Post by t-bob on Sept 15, 2019 10:03:24 GMT -5
noun
1. an area where special environmental circumstances have enabled a species or a community of species to survive after extinction in surrounding areas.
Quotes
Hence, it served as a refugium for animal and plant species that the ice cap displaced or destroyed elsewhere. -- Dan O'Neill, A Land Gone Lonesome, 2006
Trees that survive in a refugium also may help speed the recovery of the surrounding ecosystem. Their seeds float across the charred landscape, producing a new crop of plants.
-- Carl Zimmer, "'Lifeboats' Amid the World's Wildfires," New York Times, October 12, 2018
Origin
The biological or ecological sense of English refugium “an area where special environmental circumstances have enabled a species or a community of species to survive after extinction in surrounding areas,” is a straightforward borrowing of the Latin noun refugium. (The usual English plural is the Latin plural, refugia, but refugiums is also found.) The Latin noun does not have the modern English sense, of course, and means only “a place or means of shelter, a place to flee or retreat to." Refugium entered English in the early 20th century
1. an area where special environmental circumstances have enabled a species or a community of species to survive after extinction in surrounding areas.
Quotes
Hence, it served as a refugium for animal and plant species that the ice cap displaced or destroyed elsewhere. -- Dan O'Neill, A Land Gone Lonesome, 2006
Trees that survive in a refugium also may help speed the recovery of the surrounding ecosystem. Their seeds float across the charred landscape, producing a new crop of plants.
-- Carl Zimmer, "'Lifeboats' Amid the World's Wildfires," New York Times, October 12, 2018
Origin
The biological or ecological sense of English refugium “an area where special environmental circumstances have enabled a species or a community of species to survive after extinction in surrounding areas,” is a straightforward borrowing of the Latin noun refugium. (The usual English plural is the Latin plural, refugia, but refugiums is also found.) The Latin noun does not have the modern English sense, of course, and means only “a place or means of shelter, a place to flee or retreat to." Refugium entered English in the early 20th century
