9 Siberian Studies

Abstract

This chapter studies the Quaternary environments of Siberia. The Siberian research is fascinating, revealing major exchanges of insect species between the western sector of Beringia and central Asia, Europe, and eastern Beringia. Siberia appears to have the principal region in which steppe–tundra develops, and small patches still exist there. The tundra/forest–tundra element includes three ground beetle species—namely, Nebria nivalis, Pelophilaborealis, and Diacheilapolita. The results of numerous studies of Middle and Late Pleistocene insect fossil assemblages from the Ural Mountains and western Siberia are also presented in the chapter. Environmental reconstructions based on these assemblages are made largely by comparison with modern regional faunas. The fossil faunas tend to fall within defined ecological groups that include arctic and subarctic tundra species, boreal species, and steppe species. Faunas from the last interglacial (MIS 5e) reflect boreal forest conditions as warm as or warmer than those at the study sites today. Several faunas from western Siberia are associated with the interstadial conditions of MIS 3. Several of these faunas contain forest–steppe species that covers extensive regions of western Siberia at present.