Associations between weather conditions and ragweed pollen variations in Szeged, Hungary

Abstract

This study analyses potential associations between day-to-day variations in common ragweed pollen counts in the southern Hungarian district of Szeged and meteorological variables using adapted factor analysis. The database includes ten years (1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006) worth of data on daily common ragweed pollen ratios (value on the given day per value on the day before) and daily differences (value on the given day minus value on the day before) in eight meteorological variables (mean temperature, minimum temperature, maximum temperature, temperature range, irradiance, relative humidity, wind speed, and rainfall) over the ragweed pollen season. This method is new, as it has only been applied in the economics. In factor analysis it is advisable to combine all the weights of the factors and the resultant variable into one factor indicating the rank of importance of the given explanatory variables in infl uencing the resultant variable, while the remaining factors are uncorrelated with the resultant variable. The procedure shows that wind speed, rainfall, and temperature range are the most important, while minimum temperature and irradiance are the least important meteorological variables infl uencing daily pollen ratios. We found a tendency to stronger associations between the meteorological variables and the pollen variable when the pollen ratio was 1 or below. This is due to the fact that data corresponding to the pollen ratio over 1 come mainly from the prepeak pollen season, while data corresponding to less than 1 are characteristic of the post-peak pollen season (late summer to early autumn).

Plants remember past weather: a study for atmospheric pollen concentrations of Ambrosia, Poaceae and Populus

“…Concerning extreme weather events, the coldest and the wettest years highly facilitate Ambrosia pollen production, while both for Poaceae and Populus, the warmest and wettest years favour higher pollen release . Furthermore, Matyasovszky et al (2012) established a tendency to stronger associations between the meteorological variables and the ragweed pollen variable in the pre-peak pollen season, compared to the post-peak pollen season (late summer to early autumn) that is confirmed by Giner et al (1999) and Laaidi (2001). This is in accordance with the statement of Makra et al (2014) who found that definitely stronger associations between the meteorological variables and the Poaceae pollen variable are found in the data sets for lower summer temperatures with near-optimum phyto-physiological processes compared to those for high and extreme high temperatures modifying life functions and, accordingly, interrelationships of the meteorological and pollen variables.…”

Weather related ragweed pollen levels and prediction of ragweed pollen concentration for Szeged, Hungary

“…This is due to the difference in the behaviour of the plant to stand environmental stress. Namely, the data set for which A  1.00 can be associated to lower summer temperatures with near-optimum phyto-physiological processes, while the category of A  1.00 is involved with high and extreme high temperatures modifying life functions and, hence, interrelationships of the meteorological and pollen variables (Tables 1-3) Matyasovszky et al, 2012b;.…”