The Global Population Dynamics Database
Welcome to the CPB / NCEAS Global Population Dynamics Database. This facility has been constructed by researchers at the NERC Centre for Population Biology (funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council), in collaboration with the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara (funded by the USA National Science Foundation), and the Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Tennessee. It is, by far, the largest collection of animal and plant population data in the world, and brings together nearly five thousand time series in one database. Take a few minutes to browse this site, to see why we embarked on this project, what our criteria for data inclusion were, and how to use the database to get the most out of it.
To whet your appetite, here's a sample of our data.
The type of data contained in the GPDD varies enormously, from annual counts of mammals or birds at individual sampling sites, to weekly counts of zooplankton and other marine fauna. Here we show just one example of the data. In this case an index of the Catch of plaice Pleuronectes platessa Per Unit of fishing Effort (CPUE) in the North Sea is shown. The time series spans 120 years although data are not available for the two world wars, 1914-18 and 1939-45. Fishing activity in the North Sea was much reduced during both wars and the CPUE increased markedly after both, suggesting a recovery of the fish stock during these interregna.
Search the GPDD
You can search GPDD via our Search pages. We ask you to register your name and details first, so we have some idea of who using the database. We do not pass your details to anyone else.
The GPDD does not contain human population data. For a good online human population guide we recommend the Population Links pages at the Department of Social Statistics at the University of Southampton.
Citing GPDD
If you use the GPDD for any research that is published in any academic, scientific or other publication, please follow the academic convention and cite it fully and correctly. The correct citation is: "NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College (1999) The Global Population Dynamics Database. http://www.sw.ic.ac.uk/cpb/cpb/gpdd.html". Please also inform the GPDD Administrator of any publications.
Contact Information
We have tried to make the GPDD intuitive and easy to use. If you have any difficulties or problems please contact the Centre for Population Biology main number or use the email address below. If you wish to collaborate by contributing data or working with the GPDD please also contact the Centre for Population Biology.
NERC Centre for Population Biology
Imperial College London
Silwood Park campus
Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 7PY
U.K.
| Telephone | 44 (0)20 7594 2346 |
| FAX | 44 (0)1344 873173 |
| cpb-gpdd-dl@imperial.ac.uk |
National Center of Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
735 State St., Suite 300
Santa Barbara, CA 93101-3351
U.S.A.
| Telephone | (805) 892-2500 |
| FAX | (805) 892-2510 |
| nceas@nceas.ucsb.edu |
Original GPDD web site constructed by John Prendergast & Rob Anderson.
This site constructed by Rob Anderson.
Database last updated: January 2009
Pages last updated: May 2008
More details here
