Allergenic pollen season variations in the past two decades under changing climate in the United States

Abstract

Many diseases are linked with climate trends and variations. In particular, climate change is expected to alter the spatiotemporal dynamics of allergenic airborne pollen and potentially increase occurrence of allergic airway disease. Understanding the spatiotemporal patterns of changes in pollen season timing and levels is thus important in assessing climate impacts on aerobiology and allergy caused by allergenic airborne pollen. Here we describe the spatiotemporal patterns of changes in the seasonal timing and levels of allergenic airborne pollen for multiple taxa in different climate regions at a continental scale. The allergenic pollen seasons of representative trees, weeds and grass during the past decade (2001–2010) across the contiguous United States have been observed to start 3.0 (95% Confidence Interval (CI), 1.1–4.9) days earlier on average than in the 1990s (1994–2000). The average peak value and annual total of daily counted airborne pollen have increased by 42.4% (95% CI, 21.9%–62.9%) and 46.0% (95% CI, 21.5%–70.5%), respectively. Changes of pollen season timing and airborne levels depend on latitude, and are associated with changes of growing degree days, frost free days, and precipitation. These changes are likely due to recent climate change and particularly the enhanced warming and precipitation at higher latitudes in the contiguous United States.

Humidity: A review and primer on atmospheric moisture and human health

“…For example, D'Amato and Cecchi (2008) have shown that low humidity favors the release, dispersion, and transport of pollen with a consequent rise in allergic effects. In contrast, a 28 build-up in atmospheric moisture, often leading to thunderstorm formation, may cause short-term increases in asthma epidemics through the release of allergens caused by pollen grain rupture via osmotic shock (D'Amato et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2015).…”

Flowering Phenology of Selected Linden (TiliaL.) Taxa in Relation to Pollen Seasons

“…As confirmed by the results of numerous studies, climate change causes changes in the growth cycle of plants. The results of phenological observations, in particular flowering observations (Chmielewski & Rötzer, 2001;Primack et al, 2004;Czernecki & Jabłońska, 2016), but also aerobiological observations allow us to determine precisely the beginning and end of pollen release in plants (Frei & Gassner, 2008;Puc et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2015). The results of these observations are the strongest biological signal of the existence of such changes.…”

A prognostic pollen emissions model for climate models (PECM1.0)

“…Zhang et al, 2014). Climatic changes in large-scale pollen distributions are mostly absent from scientific literature, though mul-4106 M. C. Wozniak and A. L. Steiner: A prognostic pollen emissions model for climate models (PECM1.0) tiple studies on phenological changes in the pollen season have been published (Ziska, 2016;Yue et al, 2015;Y. Zhang et al, 2015a).…”