Abstract
The number of well-dated pollen diagrams in Europe has increased considerably over the last 30 years and many of them have been submitted to the European Pollen Database (EPD). This allows for the construction of increasingly precise maps of Holocene vegetation change across the continent. Chronological information in the EPD has been expressed in uncalibrated radiocarbon years, and most chronologies to date are based on this time scale. Here we present new chronologies for most of the datasets stored in the EPD based on calibrated radiocarbon years. Age information associated with pollen diagrams is often derived from the pollen stratigraphy itself or from other sedimentological information. We reviewed these chronological tie points and assigned uncertainties to them. The steps taken to generate the new chronologies are described and the rationale for a new classification system for age uncertainties is introduced. The resulting chronologies are fit for most continental-scale questions. They may not provide the best age model for particular sites, but may be viewed as general purpose chronologies. Taxonomic particularities of the data stored in the EPD are explained. An example is given of how the database can be queried to select samples with appropriate age control as well as the suitable taxonomic level to answer a specific research question.
Highlights
IntroductionPlant distributions and their changes through time are best appreciated when displayed on a map
Like all spatial features, plant distributions and their changes through time are best appreciated when displayed on a map
The number of well-dated pollen diagrams in Europe has increased considerably over the last 30 years and many of them have been submitted to the European Pollen Database (EPD)
Summary
Plant distributions and their changes through time are best appreciated when displayed on a map. Von Post realised that general changes in forest composition through time could be used to assign the strata to distinct periods. Changes in peat stratigraphy had previously been used to divide the Holocene into climatostratigraphic periods with distinct wet or dry phases (i.e. the Blytt–Sernander scheme, see Birks and Seppa 2010) and von Post (1924) used these periods to characterize their general forest composition. Using this chronological framework, and pollen data from about 250 profiles, von Post (1924) published the first maps depicting changes in tree abundance in time and space.
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