Modern pollen samples provide an invaluable research tool for helping to interpret the quaternary fossil pollen record, allowing investigation of the relationship between pollen as the proxy and the environmental parameters such as vegetation, land-use, and climate that the pollen proxy represents. The European Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) is a new initiative within the European Pollen Database (EPD) to establish a publicly accessible repository of modern (surface sample) pollen data. This new database will complement the EPD, which at present holds only fossil sedimentary pollen data. The EMPD is freely available online to the scientific community and currently has information on almost 5,000 pollen samples from throughout the Euro-Siberian and Mediterranean regions, contributed by over 40 individuals and research groups. Here we describe how the EMPD was constructed, the various tables and their fields, problems and errors, quality controls, and continuing efforts to improve the available data
An incomplete carcass of an extinct bison, Bison ex gr. priscus, was discovered in 2012 in the mouth of the Rauchua River (69°30′N, 166°49′E), Chukotka. The carcass included the rump with two hind limbs, ribs, and large flap of hide from the abdomen and sides, several vertebrae, bones of the forelimbs and anterior autopodia, stomach with its contents, and wool. The limb bones are relatively gracile, which is unusual in bison, and a SEM study of the hair microstructure suggests higher insulating capacity than in extant members of the genus. Additionally, mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that the Rauchua bison belonged to a distinct and previously unidentified lineage of steppe bison. Two radiocarbon dates suggest a Holocene age for the bison: a traditional 14 C date provided an estimate of 8030 ± 70 14 C yr ВР (SPb-743) and an AMS radiocarbon date provided an age of 9497 ± 92 14 C yr BP (AA101271). These dates make this the youngest known bison from Chukotka. Analysis of stomach contents revealed a diet of herbaceous plants (meadow grasses and sedges) and shrubs, suggesting that the early Holocene vegetation near the mouth of the Rauchua River was similar to that of the present day: tundra-associated vegetation with undersized plants.
Abstract. The Eurasian (née European) Modern Pollen Database
(EMPD) was established in 2013 to provide a public database of high-quality
modern pollen surface samples to help support studies of past climate,
land cover, and land use using fossil pollen. The EMPD is part of, and
complementary to, the European Pollen Database (EPD) which contains data on
fossil pollen found in Late Quaternary sedimentary archives throughout the
Eurasian region. The EPD is in turn part of the rapidly growing Neotoma
database, which is now the primary home for global palaeoecological data.
This paper describes version 2 of the EMPD in which the number of samples
held in the database has been increased by 60 % from 4826 to 8134. Much of
the improvement in data coverage has come from northern Asia, and the
database has consequently been renamed the Eurasian Modern Pollen Database
to reflect this geographical enlargement. The EMPD can be viewed online
using a dedicated map-based viewer at https://empd2.github.io and
downloaded in a variety of file formats at
https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.909130 (Chevalier et al., 2019).
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