Look up relict in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon.

• In biology a relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas.
• In ecology, an ecosystem which originally ranged over a large expanse, but is now narrowly confined, may be termed a relict.
• In geology, the term "relict" refers to structures or minerals from a parent rock that did not undergo metamorphosis when the surrounding rock did, or to rock that survived a destructive geologic process.
• In agronomy, a relict crop is a crop which was previously grown extensively, but is now only used in one limited region, or a small number of isolated regions.
• In historical linguistics, a relict is a word that is a survivor of a form or forms that are otherwise archaic.
• A relict was also an ancient term for a widow, but has come to be a generic or collective term for widows and widowers.

This section requires expansion with: If this section could be expanded a bit then it would be possible to split it to its own article.

• In real estate law, reliction is the gradual recession of water from its usual high water mark so that the newly uncovered land becomes the property of the adjoining riparian property owner.^{[citation needed]}

Biology[link]

In biogeography, paleontology, and other disciplines concerned with the evolutionary history of plants and animals, a relict population is one found to naturally occur in a restricted area but whose original range was much larger in a previous geologic epoch. To put it another way, a relict (or relic) plant or animal is a taxon that persists as a remnant of what was once a diverse and widespread population. Relictualism occurs when a widespread habitat or range changes and a small area becomes cut off from the whole. A subset of the population is then confined to the available hospitable area, and survives there while the broader population either shrinks or evolves divergently. This phenomenon differs from endemism in that the range of the population was not always restricted to the local region. In other words, the species or group did not necessarily arise in that small area, but rather was stranded, or insularized, by changes over time. The agent of change could be anything from competition from other organisms, continental drift, or climate change such as an ice age.

A notable example is the thylacine of Tasmania, a relict marsupial carnivore that survived into modern times on an island whereas most marsupial carnivores elsewhere in the world had long ago gone extinct.^[1] When a relict is representative of taxa found in the fossil record, and yet is still living, such an organism is sometimes referred to as a living fossil. However, a relict need not be currently living. An evolutionary relict is any organism that was characteristic of the flora or fauna of one age and that persisted into a later age, with the later age being characterized by newly evolved flora or fauna significantly different from those that came before.

An example from the fossil record would be a specimen of Nimravidae, an extinct branch of carnivores in the mammalian evolutionary tree, if said specimen came from Europe in the Miocene epoch. For if that was the case, the specimen would represent, not the main population, but a last surviving remnant of the nimravid lineage. These carnivores were common and widespread in the previous epoch, the Oligocene, and disappeared when the climate changed and woodlands were replaced by savanna. They persisted in Europe in the last remaining forests as a relict of the Oligocene: a relict species in a relict habitat.^[2]

An example of divergent evolution creating relicts is found in the shrews of the islands off the coast of Alaska, namely the Pribilof Island Shrew and the St. Lawrence Island Shrew. These species are apparently relicts of a time when the islands were connected to the mainland, and these species were once conspecific with a more widespread species, now the Cinereus Shrew, the three populations having diverged through speciation.^[3]

In botany, an example of an ice age relict plant population is the Snowdon lily, notable as being precariously rare in Wales. The Welsh population is confined to the north-facing slopes of Snowdonia, where climatic conditions are apparently similar to ice age Europe. Some have expressed concern that the warming climate will cause the lily to die out in Great Britain.^[4] Other populations of the same plant can be found in the Arctic and in the mountains of Europe and North America, where it is known as the common alplily.

The concept of relictualism is useful in understanding the ecology and conservation status of populations that have become insularized, meaning confined to one small area or multiple small areas with no chance of movement between populations. Insularization makes a population vulnerable to forces that can lead to extinction, such as disease, inbreeding, habitat destruction, competition from introduced species, and global warming. Consider the case of the White-eyed River Martin, a very localized species of bird found only in Southeast Asia, and extremely rare, if not already extinct. Its closest and only surviving living relative is the African River Martin, also very localized in central Africa. These two species were the only members of the subfamily Pseudochelidoninae, and their widely disjunct populations suggest they are relict populations of a more common and widespread ancestor. Known to science only since 1968, it seems to have disappeared.^[5]

Studies have been done on relict populations in isolated mountain and valley habitats in western North America, where the basin and range topography creates areas that are insular in nature, such as forested mountains surrounded by inhospitable desert, called sky islands. Such situations can serve as refuges for certain Pleistocene relicts, such as Townsend's Pocket Gopher,^[3] while at the same time creating barriers for biological dispersal. Studies have shown that such insular habitats have a tendency toward decreasing species richness. This observation has significant implications for conservation biology, because habitat fragmentation can also lead to the insularization of stranded populations.^[1][6]

So-called "relics of cultivation" ^[7] are plant species that were grown in the past for various purposes (medicinal, food, dyes, etc.), but are no longer utilized. They are naturalized and can be found at archaeological sites etc.

Geology[link]

Some geologic processes are destructive or transformative of structures or minerals, and when a process is not complete or does not completely destroy certain features, the left-over feature is a relict of what was there before. For example, relict permafrost is an area of ancient permafrost which remains despite a change in climate which would prohibit new permafrost from forming.^[8] Or it could be a fragment of ancient soil or sediment found in a younger stratum. A relict sediment is an area of ancient sediment which remains unburied despite changes in the surrounding environment. In pedology, the study of soil formation and classification, ancient soil found in the geologic record is called a paleosol, material formed in the distant past on what was then the surface. A relict paleosol is still found on the surface, and yet is known to have been formed under conditions radically different from the present climate and topography.^[9]

In mineralogy, a relict mineral is a surviving mineral from a parent rock that underwent a destructive or transformative process. For example, serpentinite is a kind of rock formed in a process called serpentinization, in which a host mineral produces a pseudomorph, and the original mineral is eventually replaced and/or destroyed, but is still present until the process is complete.^[10]

History[link]

Human populations[link]

In various places around the world, minority ethnic groups represent lineages of ancient human migrations in places now home to more populous ethnic groups who arrived later. For example, the first human groups to inhabit the Caribbean islands were hunter-gatherer tribes from South and Central America. Genetic specimens of natives of Cuba show that, in late pre-Columbian times, the island was home to agriculturalists of Taino ethnicity, but a relict population of the original hunter-gatherers remained in western Cuba in the form of the Ciboney people.^[11]

Linguistics[link]

An example of a linguistic relict is the Romansh language, an official language in provincial Switzerland.^[12]

See also[link]

• Endemism
• Relic
• Refugium (population biology)
• Living fossil

References[link]

For the defunct avant-garde metal band from Kristiansand, Norway, see In the Woods...

In the Woods
Cover of In The Woods
Author(s)	Tana French
Country	Ireland
Language	English
Series	Dublin Murder Squad
Genre(s)	Mystery
Publisher	Viking Adult
Publication date	30 January 2007
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	496
ISBN	978-0-670-03860-2
OCLC Number	191864570
Dewey Decimal	823/.92 22
LC Classification	PR6106.R457 I52 2007
Followed by	The Likeness: A Novel

In the Woods is a 2007 mystery novel by Tana French about a pair of Irish detectives and their investigation of the murder of a twelve year old girl. The novel won several awards such as the 2008 Edgar Award for Best First Novel By An American Author,^[1] the 2008 Barry Award for Best First Novel,^[2] the 2008 Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel,^[3] and the 2008 Anthony Award for Best First Novel.^[4]

Plot[link]

Twenty years prior to the novel's events, twelve year-old Adam and his two best friends failed to come home after playing in the familiar woods bordering their Irish housing estate. A search is called by the families, and the police find Adam shivering, clawing the bark of a nearby tree, blood on his shoes and slash marks on his back. He is unable to tell them what happened or where his friends are. His amnesia holds to the present day, where he goes by his middle name, Rob, to avoid the attention of the media to his famous case. His friends were never found.

The plot of the novel circles around the murder of a twelve year old girl, Katy Devlin, whose case Rob and his partner Cassie Maddox are given to investigate. The body is found in the same woods where Rob’s friends disappeared, at an archeological dig site, and the coincidence is enough to make Rob nervous, though he insists to his partner that he is fine.

Cassie and Rob have been partners for a few years and get along famously, teasing one another and completing one another’s thoughts. There are many rumors at the station that they are romantically involved, though both of them scoff at the idea, despite the fact that they live almost like a married couple, spending a lot of time at Cassie’s cooking dinner for one another, drinking wine, and having Rob crash on Cassie’s couch across the room.

Katy’s murder takes the pair along many lines of investigation. Her death might be related to her father’s protests against the new highway meant to go straight through the dig site, or one of the students on the dig might have attacked her. She might have been abused by her father or someone else (her mother, twin sister, or older sister) in the family. She might have been previously poisoned over time. Or it might be related to the disappearance of Rob’s friends, as a hair clip that one of his friends was wearing that day appeared near the crime scene.

These possibilities are investigated, but the detectives come up frustratingly empty-handed at every turn. The case messes with Rob’s psyche as he tries to remember details about the two previous disappearances in case it would help. He tries spending the night in the woods, but freaks out and calls Cassie to pick him up. He’s afraid to sleep again, thinking that he’ll just have nightmares, so Cassie allows him into her bed. Things escalate from there and they end up having sex.

Rob feels immensely awkward after and can’t go back to their normal jokey-insult ways, but also feels that he can’t start a relationship with her. Their partnership deteriorates just as they start to uncover new leads in the case and they are unable to discuss the case and get along the way they used to.

Rob goes back to the dig site alone, where all the students are frantically digging before the site is shut down for the construction of the highway. He comes to a realization and calls in the forensics team again, who discover the location of the murder in a shed to which only three people have the key. After some heavy interrogation, one of the suspects confesses, though his motive is far from clear.

It becomes clearer when the suspect contends that he had been dating Katy’s older sister, Rosalind. When questioned by Cassie, she denies it and any involvement in Katy’s death, but also makes a comment that Cassie is obviously sleeping with Rob. Cassie takes it in stride, but after the interrogation, she has an idea of how to get a confession out of Rosalind: Go to her and admit sleeping with Rob and promise to keep her updated on the case if she promises not to tell.

Rosalind’s psychopathic tendencies get the better of her, and once she knows that she has Cassie in her debt, she brags about the whole thing and how she got the murderer to come up with the idea by telling him that all three girls were being sexually abused by their father, but that Katy liked it and was therefore their father’s favorite. Rosalind also told him that Katy told their father lies to make him beat them and would watch and laugh, that if Katy was gone, then they would be happy. She also admitted to Cassie that Katy was strong-willed and wouldn’t always do as Rosalind told her, so she had poisoned her to make her sick. After this confession, recorded on a wire, Cassie arrests her and takes her in, but because Rosalind was a few months from turning 18 (though she had told Rob previously that she was already 18), the confession is invalid. She is released with a smug smile.

The Police Captain has learned that Rob is actually Adam Ryan and confines him to desk work. He never goes back to Detective work. Cassie starts dating someone else and gets engaged. Rob is heartbroken and calls her, but it’s too late. He goes to the dig site to see the highway construction has begun, and thinks that he’ll never regain his lost memories of that night.

Reception[link]

Thomas Gaughan of Booklist gave In the Woods a starred review and hailed it as “…a superior novel about cops, murder, memory, relationships, and modern Ireland. The characters of Ryan and Maddox, as well as a handful of others, are vividly developed… Equally striking is the picture of contemporary Ireland, booming economically and fixated on the shabbiest aspects of American popular culture. An outstanding debut and a series to watch for procedural fans.” ^[5] Publishers Weekly praised author French, saying she “… expertly walks the line between police procedural and psychological thriller in her debut” and that “Ryan and Maddox are empathetic and flawed heroes, whose partnership and friendship elevate the narrative beyond a gory tale of murdered children and repressed childhood trauma.” ^[5] Kirkus Reviews said of the novel, “When not lengthily bogged down in angst, a readable, non-formulaic police procedural with a twist. It’s ultimately the confession of a damaged man.” ^[6]

Awards and nominations[link]

• Edgar Award for Best First Novel By An American Author, 2008^[1]
• Barry Award for Best First Novel, 2008^[2]
• Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel, 2008^[3]
• Anthony Award for Best First Novel, 2008^[4]

References[link]