Reliability of measures of spores of Alternaria and pollen concentrations in air over two towns in rural Australia

Abstract

Mitakakis, TZ. & McGee, PA. 2000. Reliability of measures of spores of Alternaria and pollen concentrations in air over two towns in rural Australia. Multiple sites for Burkard sampling. ± Grana 39: 141± 145. ISSN 0017-3134 .We examined the reliability of measurements from a single Burkard volumetric trap to represent the distribution of airborne concentrations of spores of Alternaria and pollen across two towns in rural Australia. Each town was sampled with three traps, sited 2.0 to 4.9 km apart, simultaneously. Substantial intra-class correlation coef® cients ( ICC) were observed between all three sites ( ICC~0.52, 95% CI 0.30 ± 0.71 to 0.76, 95% CI 0.61 ± 0.87) when counts of pollen and Alternaria spores were relatively high. The correlation was poor when counts were low. Highly variable distributions of cypress pollen were found to be location dependent.We further compared two central lengthwise microscopic traverses of Burkard trap samples collected daily over one year. Correlation was strong for Alternaria spores ( ICC~0.95, 95% CI 0.94 ± 0.96) , grass pollen ( ICC~0.94, 95% CI 0.91 ± 0.96) and total non-grass pollen ( ICC~0.91, 95% CI 0.89 ± 0.93) . We conclude that a single central traverse of a Burkard trap sample collected at one location provides an acceptable measure of the concentrations of spores of Alternaria and grass pollen across the two rural towns when counts are relatively high. The measure is less reliable when counts are low.

AFLP analysis of Russian Alternaria tenuissima populations from wheat kernels and other hosts

“…Hundreds of conidia from Alternaria spp. have been found per m 3 of air sampled 15 m above ground in Europe, (Angulo-Romero et al 1999), USA (Dixit et al 2000) and Australia (Mitakakis and McGee 2000). However, for Puccinia recondita it was shown that the general directions of air mass movement prevented exchange of races between the European and Asian parts of Russia (Pavlova and Mikhailova 1997).…”

Seasonal and intradiurnal variation of allergenic fungal spores in urban and rural areas of the North of Portugal

“…Urban environments are widely studied while rural areas remain far less studied. The latter environment is of particular interest (Mitakakis and McGee 2000) because large amounts of spores are released from crops. Also, only a few studies have compared spore concentrations in urban and rural areas.…”

Variation assessment of airborne Alternaria and Cladosporium spores at different bioclimatical conditions

“…Fungal spore concentrations are governed by the nature and distance of the major sources, prevailing meteorological conditions and local topography (Angulo, Mediavilla & Domı´nguez 1999). Rural areas are of particular interest (Mitakakis & McGee 2000), because large amounts of conidial spores are thought to be released from crops, and respiratory symptoms have been recorded coinciding with crop ripening, harvest and storage (Lacey 1971, Hill et al 1984, O'Hollaren et al 1991.…”

“…Most fungal species act saprotrophically, colonising all stages of plant growth, or as plant pathogens, prompting considerable economic losses worldwide (Hjelmroos 1993, Infante et al 1997a. Fungal spores can also have a serious detrimental effect on human health, triggering respiratory diseases and allergenic processes (O'Hollaren et al 1991, Peat et al 1995, Ricci et al 1995, Mitakakis & McGee 2000.…”