Airborne pollen in Bahía Blanca, Argentina: seasonal distribution of pollen types

Abstract

The composition and seasonal distribution of airborne pollen grains in the atmosphere of Bahía Blanca, Argentina, has been studied between June 2001 and December 2003 using the Rotorod sampler (model 40). The results show that the main pollen types during this period were Cupressaceae, Fraxinus, Myrtaceae, Poaceae, Amaranthus/Chenopodiaceae, Pinus, Urticaceae, Ulmus, Olea and Styphnolobium. The highest concentrations occurred from August to December (end of winter and spring), accounting for 80% of the total annual pollen count. The greatest diversity was found in the spring, with the major of pollen coming from short-flowering plant types, such as Populus, Acer, Platanus, Juglans, Tamarix, Ailanthus and Typha. The potential sources of pollen from woody ornamental species are Cupressus sempervirens, Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Fraxinus pennsylvanica. whereas those from herbaceous species are the Chenopodiaceae and Poaceae, which are found within the city and also in the surrounding natural vegetation, and the Urticaceae, which are only present in the city. Marked annual differences were noted during the study period. The increase in 2002 may have been due to the abundant rainfall that occurred prior to the spring season, which would have favored the vegetative stage and flower development of plants. The decrease in pollen concentration in 2003 was mainly due to low rainfall throughout the year.

General characteristics of airborne pollen in Montevideo city, Uruguay.

“…In addition, other native types accounted for low values, representing all together a sort of geographic signature on the atmospheric spectra. Celtis was also recorded in cities of the same biogeographic region such as Mar del Plata (Latorre & Pérez, 1997), La Plata (Nitiu, 2003), Buenos Aires (Nitiu et al, 2003) and Bahía Blanca (Murray et al, 2010). Schinus was recorded in La Plata (Nitiu, 2003) and Bahía Blanca (Murray et al, 2010) while Myrsine was registered in Caxias do Sul (Brasil) (Vergamini et al, 2006) and La Plata (Nitiu, 2003).…”

“…The period of major pollen concentration corresponds to the flowering period of most species growing in the city (Lombardo, 1979;1982;1983;1984). In particular, in Mar del Plata and Bahía Blanca maximum concentrations were also recorded from August to April, and relatively low monthly concentrations were observed from January to April (Latorre & Caccavari, 2009;Murray et al, 2010). However, in other cities such as Buenos Aires (Nitiu et al, 2003) (Vergamini et al, 2006) and slightly lower than in Bahía Blanca (Murray et al, 2010) and Santiago de Chile (Rojas & Roure, 2001).…”

“…In particular, in Mar del Plata and Bahía Blanca maximum concentrations were also recorded from August to April, and relatively low monthly concentrations were observed from January to April (Latorre & Caccavari, 2009;Murray et al, 2010). However, in other cities such as Buenos Aires (Nitiu et al, 2003) (Vergamini et al, 2006) and slightly lower than in Bahía Blanca (Murray et al, 2010) and Santiago de Chile (Rojas & Roure, 2001). However, Montevideo airborne pollen index is lower than those recorded in other cities of the region such as La Plata (Nitiu, 2006), Buenos Aires (Nitiu et al, 2003), Mar del Plata (Latorre & Pérez, 1997;Pérez & Páez, 1998).…”

Predicting walnut (Juglans spp.) crop yield using meteorological and airborne pollen data

“…Juglans pollen is registered in airborne pollen samples in many parts of the world (Fehér & Jarai‐Komlodi, ; Lorenzoni et al , ; Kobzar, ; Murray et al , ; Ščevková et al , ; Çeter et al , ; Melgar et al , ; Xu et al , ; Ianovici et al , ). However, the use of aerobiological data in modelling seasonal variations in walnut yield has, to date, only been suggested in the literature (Fernandez‐Mensaque et al , ).…”

Recent scenario of airborne pollens of Lucknow, India with special reference to intra- and interannual, diurnal, and vertical variation

“…1,2 Because many airborne pollen are causative factors of several types of allergic disorders in the human population, aerobiological surveys have been carried out in most regions of the developed and developing world in the second half of the last century. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] A number of aerobiological surveys have already been conducted in many Indian cities, including Lucknow. [10][11][12][13][14] As the composition of the ground vegetation is changing due to many anthropogenic causes such as urbanization as well as natural causes such as climate variations, aerospora is becoming altered.…”