Northern refuge: white spruce survived last ice age in Alaska. From: Science News | Date: August 5, 2006| Author: Perkins, S. | COPYRIGHT 2006 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Genetic analysis of white spruce trees at sites across North America suggest that that species endured the harsh climate of Alaska throughout the last ice age, a notion that scientists have debated for decades.

Picea glauca, the white spruce, is one of the most common trees in Alaska's forests today, says Lynn L. Anderson, a plant geneticist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. However, scientists haven't unearthed Alaskan fossils of that species dating fro...