Iberian Quaternary as a scenario for the study of global biogeographic and macroecological patterns in amphibians and reptiles

Global climatic changes affect organisms in all biomes and ecosystems of the planet. During Pleistocene, consecutive glaciation events rise climate as a conditioning factor for presence and vital development of herpetofauna species, both at European and Iberian scale. During this glacial period, Iberian Peninsula constitutes a meridional refuge for thermophilous species which lately expand their distribution towards the northern area at the end of this cold phase when Holocene begins. In some cases, these climatic conditions have led to extinction or extirpation of some species or families in a clear north-south retreat geographic pattern. To avoid extinction without changing their distribution some species have developed adaptive mechanisms as occurs in certain amphibian populations which experiment an increase of body size following the pattern derived from Bergmann's rule and TSR or temperature-size rule. In this paper, we will present the contribution of Quaternary archaeo-paleontological sites of the Iberian Peninsula to our knowledge on global evolutionary and biogeographical patterns in amphibians and reptiles.