The African Pollen Database (APD) and tracing environmental change: State of the Art
Anne‐Marie Lézine, Sarah Ivory, William D. Gosling, Louis Scott
Abstract
The African Pollen Database is a scientific network with the objective of providing the international scientific community with data and tools to develop palaeoenvironmental studies in sub-Saharan Africa and to provide the basis for understanding the vulnerability of ecosystems to climate change. This network was developed between 1996 and 2007. It promoted the collection, homogenization and validation of pollen data from modern (trap, soils, lake and river mud) and fossil materials (Quaternary sites) and developed a tool to determine pollen grains using digital photographs from international herbaria. Discontinued in 2007 due to a lack of funding, this network now resumes its activity in close collaboration with international databases: Neotoma, USA, Pangaea, DE, and the Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, FR.