Impact of elevated air temperature and drought on pollen characteristics of major agricultural grass species

Abstract

Grass pollen allergens are known to be one of the major triggers of hay fever with an increasing number of humans affected by pollen associated health impacts. Climate change characterized by increasing air temperature and more frequent drought periods might affect plant development and pollen characteristics. In this study a one-year (2017) field experiment was conducted in Bavaria, Germany, simulating drought by excluding rain and elevated air temperature by installing a heating system to investigate their effects primarily on the allergenic potential of eight selected cultivars of the two grass species timothy and perennial ryegrass. It could be shown for timothy that especially under drought and heat conditions the allergen content is significantly lower accompanied by a decrease in pollen weight and protein content. In perennial ryegrass the response to drought and heat conditions in terms of allergen content, pollen weight, and protein content was more dependent on the respective cultivar probably due to varying requirements for their growth conditions and tolerance to drought and heat. Results support recommendations which cultivars should be grown preferentially. The optimal choice of grass species and respective cultivars under changing climate conditions should be a major key aspect for the public health sector in the future.

Climate Change Impacts on Broussenetia papyrifera Pollens - Metabolome Investigations and Prospects of Allergy Prevalence

“…The temperature difference in the two regions can have a possible effect on the FTIR spectra of the pollen samples. Increase in temperature and drought has been found to affect pollen weight, protein content and allergen contents [42]. In our studies, inter–regional and inter–seasonal pollens studied through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed significant differences in the FTIR datasets of pollens, which also confirmed differences in pollens chemical composition.…”

A comprehensive aerobiological study of the airborne pollen in the Irish environment

“…Such dry conditions have been shown to reduce grass growth and pollen production (González Minero et al, 1998), thus accounting for the lack of correlation between Poaceae pollen and temperature and the negative correlation between total pollen and temperature during June 2018 (Dublin). Many grass species are dependent on precipitation and have a low tolerance to drought (Jung et al, 2021), explaining the positive correlation observed between Poaceae pollen and rainfall in Carlow 2018.…”

Atmospheric transport reveals grass pollen dispersion distances

“…This community is able to provide informed grass pollen warnings to the public by collating information from a wide range of sources, including but not limited to grass pollen monitoring datasets, grass pollen trend analyses (Emberlin et al, 1999;, local grass flowering observations (Frisk et al, 2021;León-Ruiz et al, 2011), grass maps (McInnes et al, 2017), current weather conditions and climatic trends. Previous studies are generally in agreement that temperature, precipitation, and local grass areas are important factors in this dynamic (García-Mozo et al, 2010Jung et al, 2021;Recio et al, 2010;Ščevková et al, 2020;Skjøth et al, 2013;Werchan et al, 2017). This is due both to the growth and maturity of the plants (Charles-Edwards et al, 1971;Förster et al, 2018;Hurtado-Uria et al, 2013) but also the impact on flowering and the release of pollen (Cebrino et al, 2016;Emecz, 1962;Romero-Morte et al, 2020).…”

“…The effect has been shown to have a measurable effect on grass pollen levels in the atmosphere (Ríos et al, 2016). A possible reason for the strong significant effect of temperature on grass pollen levels is not only due to the direct (although complicated) effect (Jung et al, 2021;Myszkowska, 2014;Norris-Hill, 1997), but also from the indirect effect mediated through plant growth, plant maturity, anthesis and anther dehiscence (Charles-Edwards et al, 1971;Liem and Groot, 1973). All of the factors mentioned have their own complex relationships to grass pollen release and atmospheric concentrations (Viner et al, 2010).…”