Effect of land uses and wind direction on the contribution of local sources to airborne pollen

Rojo, Jesús; Rapp, Ana; Lara, Beatriz; Fernández‐González, Federico; Pérez-Badía, Rosa

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.08.074

Cited by 102 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Another reason could be differences in the proportion of green areas in the total area of the cities. According to Rojo et al, urban green spaces are one of the most important types of land use that contribute to the amount of pollen [29]. Based on information obtained from a Local Data Bank in Poland [30], in the monitoring years, Wroclaw was characterized by the lowest proportion of green areas (including parks, lawns, street and estate greenery) in the city area, amounting to approximately 5.5%, compared to 7.3% in Warsaw, where this contribution was the highest.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence of allergic rhinitis and asthma in Poland in relation to pollen counts

Lipiec

Sybilski

Rapiejko

et al. 2020

pdia

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Introduction: Despite the known role of pollen allergens in causing allergy symptoms in sensitized individuals, there are few publications investigating the relationship between pollen exposure in different regions and the prevalence of inhalant allergy. Aim: To assess the association between the prevalence of allergic rhinitis and asthma and the degree of exposure to pollen in various regions of Poland. Material and methods: Completed questionnaires of 9,443 subjects living in four urban centres (Wroclaw, Katowice, Warsaw, Bialystok), collected within part of the ECAP project, were analyzed. Children aged 6-7 (n = 2 278), adolescents aged 13-14 (n = 2 418), and adults aged 20-44 (n = 4 747) constituted 24.2%, 25.6% and 50.3% of the respondents, respectively. The clinical part (including skin prick tests, an assay of Timothy grass-specific IgE), was attended by 24% of the respondents. Data from 6-year pollen monitoring served to characterize birch and grass pollen seasons. Results: We found insignificant negative associations between the duration of birch pollen season and the prevalence of declared allergic rhinitis and asthma during the season across all age groups. There were insignificant inverse associations between the number of days with above-threshold and high grass pollen concentrations, total grass pollen count and the prevalence of declared allergic rhinitis and asthma during the season across all age groups. Associations noted in the clinical part were also non-significant; however, these trends were not uniform across the age groups. Conclusions: Our findings do not confirm the hypothesis of a positive association between pollen exposure and the prevalence of allergic rhinitis and asthma.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence of allergic rhinitis and asthma in Poland in relation to pollen counts

Lipiec

Sybilski

Rapiejko

et al. 2020

pdia

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“…Concentric ring graphs were generated, which represent the relative abundance (% of the total ring surface) of the main land uses and vegetation types surrounding the two pollen monitoring stations DEBIED and DEMUNC (0 to 1, 1 to 2, 2 to 5 and 5 to 10 km from the pollen trap). This spatial representation was used for interpreting the general landscape configuration that characterized the abundance of the main pollen sources for specific pollen types around the stations [3,32]. Further, the relative abundance spectrum of the all pollen types in the air was calculated for the period 2006-2016 using the 'iplot_abundance' function from the AeRobiology R package [35].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pollinosis in urban areas has increased notably in recent decades [1], and numerous studies have examined potential sources of airborne pollen recorded in cities [2][3][4]. For instance, ornamental plants in urban green areas play an important role in allergic sensitization to pollen allergens and episodes of pollen allergy symptoms [5][6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, different locations may report significant differences in pollen measurements [21]. These differences are associated with the spatial distribution of pollen sources with respect to the prevailing meteorological conditions [3,[22][23][24]. Pollen sampling in close proximity to the emission sources provides unrepresentative measurements, only applicable to very local pollen conditions [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Land-Use and Height of Pollen Sampling Affect Pollen Exposure in Munich, Germany

et al. 2020

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Airborne pollen concentrations vary depending on the location of the pollen trap with respect to the pollen sources. Two Hirst-type pollen traps were analyzed within the city of Munich (Germany): one trap was located 2 m above ground level (AGL) and the other one at rooftop (35 m AGL), 4.2 km apart. In general, 1.4 ± 0.5 times higher pollen amounts were measured by the trap located at ground level, but this effect was less than expected considering the height difference between the traps. Pollen from woody trees such as Alnus, Betula, Corylus, Fraxinus, Picea, Pinus and Quercus showed a good agreement between the traps in terms of timing and intensity. Similar amounts of pollen were recorded in the two traps when pollen sources were more abundant outside of the city. In contrast, pollen concentrations from Cupressaceae/Taxaceae, Carpinus and Tilia were influenced by nearby pollen sources. The representativeness of both traps for herbaceous pollen depended on the dispersal capacity of the pollen grains, and in the case of Poaceae pollen, nearby pollen sources may influence the pollen content in the air. The timing of the pollen season was similar for both sites; however, the season for some pollen types ended later at ground level probably due to resuspension processes that would favor recirculation of pollen closer to ground level. We believe measurements from the higher station provides a picture of background pollen levels representative of a large area, to which local sources add additional and more variable pollen amounts.

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“…It suggests that in explaining the variability of the pollen season between two stations located close to each other, both the meteorological conditions and surrounding of the sampling sites are important, which was also noted by Charalampopoulos et al (2018). According to Rojo et al (2015), green areas in close proximity to pollen traps strongly influence the number of pollen in the air. Borycka and Kasprzyk (2018) found that the Alnus SPIn and daily concentration in Rzeszów (Poland) were higher in the suburbs, where more alder trees grow, than in downtown.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

The variability of pollen concentrations at two stations in the city of Wrocław in Poland

et al. 2019

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The aim of the study was to investigate the variability of Alnus and Corylus pollen concentrations at two stations located in the city of Wrocław, Poland-one at the city centre and the other 4 km from the city centre. Our goal was to compare measurements from these stations in relation to meteorology and land cover. We used Spearman's correlation coefficient to investigate any dependence between meteorological factors and pollen concentration. Additionally, to check the relation between the direction of inflow of air masses and pollen concentration, we calculated the backward trajectories using the HYSPLIT model. The results have shown that despite the short distance between the stations, the characteristic of the pollen season is different for both stations (i.a. date of start and end of pollen season, duration of the season). The Spearman's correlation coefficient between relative humidity and air temperature and pollen concentration was found to be statistically significant. The backward trajectories calculated with HYSPLIT suggested a different origin of air masses between stations for high-concentration episodes in the case of Alnus. Our study has shown that analysis of meteorological conditions and influence of air transport into pollen concentration makes it possible to ascertain the reasons for differences in pollen level at these two stations, both of which are located in the same climatological domain. The study also shows that the aerobiological condition may change significantly over a short distance, which is a major challenge, for example, for pollen emission, transport, and concentration modelling.Keywords Pollen Á HYSPLIT Á Meteorological conditions Á Back-trajectories IntroductionCorylus (hazel) and Alnus (alder) are trees which release first pollen grains that are measured in the air of Poland each year (Puc and Kasprzyk 2013). According to research conducted by Rapiejko et al. (2007) in Poland, the first symptoms of allergy of sensitized people to these taxa appear in low concentrations of pollen: for hazel, the threshold value is 35 pollen grains per cubic meter of air (pollen grains m -3 ) and for alder 45 pollen grains m -3 , whereas symptoms for all sensitized people are observed at slightly higher pollen concentration amounting to 80 pollen grains m -3 in the case of Corylus and 85 pollen grains m -3 in the case of Alnus.

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Effect of land uses and wind direction on the contribution of local sources to airborne pollen

Cited by 102 publications

References 53 publications

Prevalence of allergic rhinitis and asthma in Poland in relation to pollen counts

Prevalence of allergic rhinitis and asthma in Poland in relation to pollen counts

Land-Use and Height of Pollen Sampling Affect Pollen Exposure in Munich, Germany

The variability of pollen concentrations at two stations in the city of Wrocław in Poland

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