The European Pollen Database (EPD) aims at storing and developing a relational database containing data and metadata of fossil and modern pollen records from natural archives (e.g. lacustrine sediments, peat bogs, marine sediments) collected on or near the Eurasian continent. The goal of the EPD is to develop an open platform to foster the scientific study of long-term palaeoecological records to address various themes such as biogeography, vegetation history, ecosystem conservation. In addition, the EPD community strives at making the knowledge gained to the wider public (schools, non-scientific public).
The EPD is a non-profit structure that is made available free of charge to the scientific community and is managed on a volunteer basis by the EPD Board to provide scientific guidance and oversight for the database. The activities are mainly carried by open working groups, which play a significant role in developing and in sharing work to maintain the database. Should you be interested in taking part in this process, feel free to contact the working-groups coordinator.
Prior to using the database, you are urged to carefully read the Data Policy of the EPD.
The EPD is managed by the IMBE laboratory (Mediterranean Institute of marine and terrestrial Biodiversity and Ecology) and the Pytheas Institute (Earth Sciences and Astronomy Observatory) in Aix-en-Provence, France. The EPD has been financially supported by the Aix-Marseille University since 2007.