Thirty-four years of pollen monitoring: an evaluation of the temporal variation of pollen seasons in Belgium

Hoebeke, Lucie; Bruffaerts, Nicolas; Verstraeten, Caroline; Delcloo, Andy; Smedt, Tom De; Packeu, Ann; Detandt, Monique; Hendrickx, Marijke

doi:10.1007/s10453-017-9503-5

Cited by 39 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…The most recent years of observation are therefore beginning to remarkably complete the oldest data series and to highlight new trends that were previously undetectable. For example, the significantly earlier start of the hazel pollen season in Brussels was shown in this study (data up to 2020) whereas in a previous study (17), it was not significant (data up to 2015). Also, the decreasing trends for Poaceae pollen observed in the current study was not detected in a previous study with data from Leiden and Brussels up to 2001 (39).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 81%

Long-Term Pollen Monitoring in the Benelux: Evaluation of Allergenic Pollen Levels and Temporal Variations of Pollen Seasons

Weger¹,

Bruffaerts²,

Koenders³

et al. 2021

Front. Allergy

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Airborne pollen is a major cause of allergic rhinitis, affecting between 10 and 30% of the population in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg (Benelux). Allergenic pollen is produced by wind pollinating plants and released in relatively low to massive amounts. Current climate changes, in combination with increasing urbanization, are likely to affect the presence of airborne allergenic pollen with respect to exposure intensity, timing as well as duration. Detailed analysis of long-term temporal trends at supranational scale may provide more comprehensive insight into these phenomena. To this end, the Spearman correlation was used to statistically compare the temporal trends in airborne pollen concentration monitored at the aerobiological stations which gathered the longest time-series (30–44 years) in the Benelux with a focus on the allergenic pollen taxa: Alnus, Corylus, Betula, Fraxinus, Quercus, Platanus, Poaceae, and Artemisia. Most arboreal species showed an overall trend toward an increase in the annual pollen integral and peak values and an overall trend toward an earlier start and end of the pollen season, which for Betula resulted in a significant decrease in season length. For the herbaceous species (Poaceae and Artemisia), the annual pollen integral and peak values showed a decreasing trend. The season timing of Poaceae showed a trend toward earlier starts and longer seasons in all locations. In all, these results show that temporal variations in pollen levels almost always follow a common trend in the Benelux, suggesting a similar force of climate change-driven factors, especially for Betula where a clear positive correlation was found between changes in temperature and pollen release over time. However, some trends were more local-specific indicating the influence of other environmental factors, e.g., the increasing urbanization in the surroundings of these monitoring locations. The dynamics in the observed trends can impact allergic patients by increasing the severity of symptoms, upsetting the habit of timing of the season, complicating diagnosis due to overlapping pollen seasons and the emergence of new symptoms due allergens that were weak at first.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 81%

Long-Term Pollen Monitoring in the Benelux: Evaluation of Allergenic Pollen Levels and Temporal Variations of Pollen Seasons

Weger¹,

Bruffaerts²,

Koenders³

et al. 2021

Front. Allergy

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“…The global increase of pollen grains in the air [52] previously showed an augmentation of 100 grains per year (for Quercus spp). Most of the literature published showed similar results but with a focus on specific species to calculate the trends and biannual variations [11,[53][54][55][56].…”

Section: Interannuality Of the Total Pollen Grainsmentioning

confidence: 66%

Temporal Variability and Geographical Origins of Airborne Pollen Grains Concentrations from 2015 to 2018 at Saclay, France

et al. 2018

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The study of the origin and dispersion processes associated with airborne pollen grains are important to understand due to their impacts on health. In this context, a Hirst-type spore trap was utilized over the period 2015–2018 to monitor ambient pollen grains at Saclay, France, a receptor site influenced by both clean air masses originating from the Atlantic Ocean and polluted air masses under anticyclonic conditions. The objective of this work was to use ZeFir (a user-friendly, software tool recently-developed to investigate the geographical origin and point sources of atmospheric pollution) as a method to analyse total and allergenic airborne pollen grain concentrations. Strong interannual variability was exhibited for the total pollen grains concentrations and it was determined that this was mainly driven by Betulaceae pollen, with a general increasing trend displayed. The start of the pollen season was seen to be triggered by particular synoptic conditions after a period of dormancy and two maximums were displayed, one in April and a second in June. Results from the ZeFir tool, fed with on-site hourly meteorological and pollen measurements, demonstrate that the dominant pollen grains inputs to Saclay are favoured by non-prevailing winds originating from East and North in association with dry air, moderate winds, mild temperature and enhanced insolation.

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“…Generally, there are four basic factors governing the seasonal plant development: temperature (chilling and forcing), photoperiod and water availability (66). The main driver for the advancement of spring and early summer flowering, however, is temperature during the preseason period (19,(66)(67)(68)(69). Preseason length for flowering in the Phenology Network of Switzerland was found to be between 50 and 80 days (67).…”

Section: Start Dates Of Mpsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, trends for end dates and duration of the pollen season are more diverse. For tree pollen, many studies report no changes in the duration of the pollen season, while for herbaceous taxa more indications for a longer season exist (5,13,(19)(20)(21).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

50 Years of Pollen Monitoring in Basel (Switzerland) Demonstrate the Influence of Climate Change on Airborne Pollen

Gehrig

Clot

2021

Front.Allergy

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Climate change and human impact on vegetation modify the timing and the intensity of the pollen season. The 50 years of pollen monitoring in Basel, Switzerland provide a unique opportunity to study long-term changes in pollen data. Since 1969, pollen monitoring has been carried out in Basel with a Hirst-type pollen trap. Pollen season parameters for start dates, end dates and duration were calculated with different pollen season definitions, which are commonly used in aerobiology. Intensity was analyzed by the annual pollen integral (APIn), peak value and the number of days above specific thresholds. Linear trends were calculated with the non-parametric Mann Kendall method with a Theil-Sen linear trend slope. During the last 50 years, linear increase of the monthly mean temperatures in Basel was 0.95–1.95°C in the 3 winter months, 2–3.7°C in spring months and 2.75–3.85°C in summer months. Due to this temperature increase, the start dates of the pollen season for most of the spring pollen species have advanced, from 7 days for Poaceae to 29 days for Taxus/Cupressaceae. End dates of the pollen season depend on the chosen pollen season definition. Negative trends predominate, i.e., the pollen season mostly ends earlier. Trends in the length of the pollen season depend even more on the season definitions and results are contradictory and often not significant. The intensity of the pollen season of almost all tree pollen taxa increased significantly, while the Poaceae pollen season did not change and the pollen season of herbs decreased, except for Urticaceae pollen. Climate change has a particular impact on the pollen season, but the definitions used for the pollen season parameters are crucial for the calculation of the trends. The most stable results were achieved with threshold definitions that indicate regular occurrence above certain concentrations. Percentage definitions are not recommended for trend studies when the annual pollen integral changed significantly.

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Thirty-four years of pollen monitoring: an evaluation of the temporal variation of pollen seasons in Belgium

Cited by 39 publications

References 45 publications

Long-Term Pollen Monitoring in the Benelux: Evaluation of Allergenic Pollen Levels and Temporal Variations of Pollen Seasons

Long-Term Pollen Monitoring in the Benelux: Evaluation of Allergenic Pollen Levels and Temporal Variations of Pollen Seasons

Temporal Variability and Geographical Origins of Airborne Pollen Grains Concentrations from 2015 to 2018 at Saclay, France

50 Years of Pollen Monitoring in Basel (Switzerland) Demonstrate the Influence of Climate Change on Airborne Pollen

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