Regional patterns of postglacial changes in the Palearctic mammalian diversity indicate retreat to Siberian steppes rather than extinction

We examined the presence of possible Recent refugia of Pleistocene mammalian faunas in Eurasia by analysing regional differences in the mammalian species composition, occurrence and extinction rates between Recent and Last Glacial faunas. Our analyses revealed that most of the widespread Last Glacial species have survived in the central Palearctic continental regions, most prominently in Altai–Sayan (followed by Kazakhstan and East European Plain). The Recent Altai–Sayan and Kazakhstan regions show species compositions very similar to their Pleistocene counterparts. The Palearctic regions have lost 12% of their mammalian species during the last 109,000 years. The major patterns of the postglacial changes in Palearctic mammalian diversity were not extinctions but rather radical shifts of species distribution ranges. Most of the Pleistocene mammalian fauna retreated eastwards, to the central Eurasian steppes, instead of northwards to the Arctic regions, considered Holocene refugia of Pleistocene megafauna. The central Eurasian Altai and Sayan mountains could thus be considered a present-day refugium of the Last Glacial biota, including mammals.