The Hypothesis about the Lofoten Pleistocene Refugium for Pinus sylvestris L.

The dates of appearance of a representative portion of Pinus sylvestris L. pollen in palynospectra (20%) have been analyzed as a parameter reflecting the spread of leading-edge pine populations from central and eastern Europe to the Lofoten region via probable alternative routes of population immigration. It has been found that they could reach this region not earlier than 6500-7000 years BP, i.e., 2500-3000 years later than the factual palynological date, even at the maximum possible rate of their spread (300-500 km/1000 years). Therefore, the probability of the origin of Lofoten P. sylvestris populations from adventive populations that migrated to Scandinavia from adjacent European regions is excluded. The generalization of the results of studies on the chronopalynology and rate of Holocene expansion of P sylvestris and data on paleoglaciology, paleomarinology, paleobotany, and modern genogeography and ecology of Scots pine has confirmed the hypothesis about the survival of autochthonous refugial populations of this species on the Lofoten Islands during the last glacial phase and their expansion during the Holocene.