Abstract
The Bermuda oceanic islands are comprised mainly of lithified dunes (i.e. calcareous eolianites) which formed during Quaternary sea-level regressions. This short communication considers the vegetation history of Bermuda in relation to these dune-building episodes. At 32?N, Bermuda is the northernmost limit of most frost-intolerant stibtropical vascular plant species in the northern hemisphere. The global cooling that caused the Quaternary glacial periods and also the lowering of sea level, may have led to the local extinction of Bermuda's subtropical interglacial floras. Located >900 km from the nearest continental source area, the filling of the vacated niches on Bermuda by long-distance dispersal may have involved low frequency events requiring more than 6000 years. The result would have been a very sparse vegetative cover during the dune-building episodes which would explain why the Bermuda eolianites reach elevations greater than 60 m above the present-day sea level. This hypothesis is supported by: (1) the absence of reliable fossil evidence for vegetation interfering with, or interbedded within, the eolian deposits; and (2) preliminary palynological analyses of.the clay-rich fossil soils intercalated between the eolianite formations which have revealed pollen that does not appear to correspond to the existing native flora of Bermuda.
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