Plant macrofossil database
of the Czech and Slovak republic


The Plant Macrofossil Database of the Czech and Slovak republic has been created in order to harbour and share data obtained by palaeoecological research of natural organic sediments (sphagnum and sedge peat, wood peat, limnic sediments etc.). It follows the Archaeobotanical database of the Czech Republic, which contains fossil data from archaeological research (sediments created or influenced by humans).

Currently the database contains data from more than 200 sites with cca 3000 samples, in which more than 600 taxa from cca 80 families has been determined. Analysed macrofossil samples contain mostly different parts of vascular plants and bryophytes (seeds, fruits, tissues, wood etc.) and less frequently also parts of some other organisms (e.g. sclerotia of fungi, shells of Ostracoda). Nearly every sample is dated: accurately based either on radiocarbon dating, age-depth model or at least roughly categorized into its particular Holocene period. Most of the samples are relatively young and belong to the Subatlantic period, the oldest sample has been dated to cca 45,000 years BP. The database has 30 contributors and contains both published and unpublished data.

Macrofossil data are supplemented by other information like localization with coordinates, sample age, author of identification, etc. The macrofossil database could be the basis for some synthetic analyses in the future, like modelling of past distribution of selected taxa. It can also be used as a source of information about the oldest occurrence of selected taxa. Most of the database is available either on web pages or by the request to the database administrator. Unpublished data are available only after the approval of the author of data.

If you want to request some data or have new data which could be incorporated into database, do not hesitate to write to the database administrator.

The plant macrofossil database has been created with support of project GAČR P 504/11/0429: Environmental gradients, vegetation dynamics and landscape changes in the West Carpathians from the Late Glacial up to present times.

Contact:
Petra Hájková: buriana@sci.muni.cz
Eva Šmerdová: eva.hette@centrum.cz

Department of Botany and Zoology
Faculty of Science
Masaryk University
Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno
Czech republic