The Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología, IPE) has a long history of research on environmental, human and climate change issues. The Center started in 1942 as a Field Station located in Jaca, an old town in the Pyrenees. In 1948, a Research Institute was founded, mostly dedicated to the study of the geography and geomorphology of the Pyrenees. In 1963, the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) created another research institute in Jaca, the Experimental Biology Pyrenean Center, focused on the study of the Pyrenees from an ecological point of view. Both research centers were independent, but shared a common director till 1983, when the two centers were consolidated, and, as a result, the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology was founded. The main research activities of the Institute were ecological studies of mountain environments. In 1990, the facilities were expanded with a new building in the Aula Dei Campus, close to the city of Zaragoza. The last decade has seen an expansion and diversification of the research that now comprise a multidisciplinary approach to the history, dynamics and evolution of the environments and ecosystems.

The study of the geomorphology and the Quaternary deposits in the Pyrenees has been always at the core of the IPE research. Since the 1980s, the study of lacustrine cores from mountain lakes was also included. The IPE designed and built the first floating platform, tower and coring equipment in Spain to retrieve cores from lakes. Since mid 1990s, the investigations on limnogeology have included other geographic areas. The collaboration with other Spanish, European and American universities and research institutes has helped to consolidate a multidisciplinary research group focused on Limnogeology and Global Change.