The following table describes the differences that have developed between
the European Pollen Database and Global Pollen Database (GPD/NAPD) in the
use of the P_VARS (database table storing the pollen variables) table:
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| Var#
(Variable Id) |
Sequential number that uniquely identifies the pollen variable. | (same as EPD) |
| AccVar#
(Accepted Variable Id) |
Same as GPD/NAPD except that P_VARS contains no nomenclatural synonyms. For example, Poaceae is a synonym of Gramineae, according to Flora Europaea. Only Gramineae appear in P_VARS. | Identifies the Var# of the pollen variable that is the accepted name for this variable. This allows for the recording of nomenclatural and other synonyms in P_VARS. For example, both Poaceae and Gramineae both appear in P_VARS, but Gramineae points to Poaceae as the accepted name. (Note that only accepted variables appear in the COUNTS table.) |
| VarName
(Variable Name) |
Full name of the pollen variable as submited by the author. | (same as EPD) |
| HVar#
(Higher Variable Id) |
The next higher pollen variable (taxon), defined on the basis of the pollen morphology. | The next higher variable, defined on the basis of the plant (sporophyte) taxonomy. |
| MHVar#
(Morphological Higher Variable Id) |
The limiting variable (taxon) for any hierarchical amalgamation. | The next higher variable, defined on the basis of the pollen morphology. |
The proposed resolution to P_VARS usage differences is to remove hierarchy
information entirely from P_VARS, and place it in two new tables: HIERARCH
and TAXLIMIT.
| Table Name | Field Name | EPD P_VARS Equivalent | GPD/NAPD P_VARS Equivalent |
| HIERARCH | Var# | Var# | Var# |
| HigherVar# | HVar# | HVar# + MHVar# | |
| TAXLIMIT | Var# | Var# | |
| LimitVar# | MHVar# |
This resolution eliminates the different usage of table fields between the databases.