Winter dormancy in New Zealand biota and its paleoclimatic implications

Abstract

Winter diapause in native insects and winter deciduousness in native dicotyledonous plants are discussed with special reference to their paleoclimatic implications. It is concluded that these adaptations evolved in New Zealand as a response to the Pleistocene cold climate. The low incidence of both suggests that the Pleistocene cold climate was markedly less severe than in comparable latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. Evidence from the same and other sources suggests that this may be true of Southern Hemisphere temperate land areas in general.