Modern pollen data from the East Asian Pollen Database (EAPD): pollen, vegetation and climate relationship

This is a modern pollen dataset of eastern Asia, in which a total of 1756 sample sites is selected from the original database EAPD (East Asian Pollen Database) which consists of 2858 samples. The sample types are mainly surface soil, moss, sediment top (lake, delta, peatland, river basin, reservoir and so on), and dust capture. The pollen data are mostly count numbers, but a few was originally given in percentage (marked with TRUE for proportion or percentage). We have checked pollen taxonomic nomenclature and combined some synonym pollen types from different original sources.

This dataset includes only the samples collected in the areas under natural vegetation or land cover with low human disturbance, that the sites located in the agriculture areas or strong human intervention have been excluded. This screening procedure makes the pollen data readily available for biome and climate reconstructions. The contributors' original research concerning pollen-climate relationship from EAPD sources have been published in Zheng, et al. (2014 and 2008), which have revealed that pollen taxa in the dataset have significant relationship with climate variables. This dataset is potentially useful for multiscale paleovegetation and paleoclimate reconstruction studies in Asia. 

EAPD is developed and maintained by the Laboratory of Quaternary Science and Palynology in the School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, China.