Topic summary
Endemic species
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Endemism.
Origins
Endemism can also be created in areas that act as refuges for species during times of climate change like ice ages. These changes may have caused species to become repeatedly restricted to regions with unusually stable climate conditions, leading to high concentrations of endemic species in areas resistant to climate fluctuations. Endemic species that used to exist in a much larger area but died out in most of their range are called paleoendemic, in contrast to neoendemic species, which are new species that have not dispersed beyond their range. The ginkgo tree, Ginkgo biloba, is one example of a paleoendemic species.