Palaeoentomological reconstruction of the environment during the Late Quaternary : A comparison between living species in Europe and regionally extinct in British Isles

Abstract: During the Late Quaternary, abrupt climate and cultural changes took place and made alternations to the past landscape. Climatic phenomena such as expand of ice masses,sea level rise, high and low temperatures, migration of humans, decline and increase of forest areas and more changes were the reason of changing the biodiversity of species and the formation of the land. Here cartographic maps with the use of GIS will be presented from reconstructions of the environment during the Late Quaternary, which then will be interpreted from coleopteran fossils for the whole of Europe. Furthermore, living and extinct species will be compared, in which the focus of the extinction will be in the British Isles. Each period will show a different abundance of species, the regional disappearance of the species will be depicted by the abrupt changes in the landscape during the past. Anthropogenic and natural factors will be discussed and be compared with the habitats of the species.