scholarly journals Main features of Poaceae pollen season in Madeira region (Portugal)

2015 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-372
Author(s):  
Irene Câmara Camacho ◽  
Rita Câmara ◽  
Roberto Camacho
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Season ◽  
Airborne Pollen ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Onset Date ◽  
Critical Levels ◽  
Pollen Monitoring ◽  
Madeira Island ◽  
Poaceae Pollen ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Low Levels

<p>The pollinic spectrum of the Madeira region is dominated by grass pollen, which also represents an important aeroallergen in Europe. The present work aims to analyze the main features of the Poaceae pollen season in the Madeira region to determine the allergic risk. The study took place in Funchal city, the capital of Madeira Island, over a period of 10 years (2003–2012). The airborne pollen monitoring was carried out with a Hirst type volumetric trap, following well-established guidelines.</p><p>In the atmosphere of Funchal, the mean annual Poaceae pollen index was 229. The mean Poaceae pollen season lasts 275 days, with an onset date in January/March and an end date in November/December. Poaceae counts showed a seasonal variation with 2 distinct peaks: a higher peak between March and June, and the second one in autumn. The peak values occurred mainly between April and June, and the highest peak was 93 grains/m<sup>3</sup>, detected on the 27th May of 2010. The Poaceae pollen remaining at low levels during the whole growing season, presenting a nil to low allergenic risk during most of the study period. Higher critical levels of allergens have been revealed after 2006. In general, the pollen risk from Poaceae lasted only a few days per year, despite the very long pollen season and the abundance of grasses in the landscape of Madeira Island.</p>

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

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regula Gehrig ◽  
Bernard Clot
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Pollen Season ◽  
Airborne Pollen ◽  
Linear Trend ◽  
Linear Increase ◽  
Pollen Monitoring ◽  
Pollen Species ◽  
Poaceae Pollen ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Start Dates

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.

scholarly journals Geographical Imputation of Missing Poaceae Pollen Data via Convolutional Neural Networks

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 717
Author(s):  
Ricardo Navares ◽  
José Luis Aznarte
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Convolutional Neural Networks ◽  
Airborne Pollen ◽  
Missing At Random ◽  
Spatial Relations ◽  
Computational Time ◽  
Pollen Monitoring ◽  
Distance Weighting ◽  
Poaceae Pollen ◽  
Data Points

Airborne pollen monitoring datasets sometimes exhibit gaps, even very long, either because of maintenance or because of a lack of expert personnel. Despite the numerous imputation techniques available, not all of them effectively include the spatial relations of the data since the assumption of missing-at-random is made. However, there are several techniques in geostatistics that overcome this limitation such as the inverse distance weighting and Gaussian processes or kriging. In this paper, a new method is proposed that utilizes convolutional neural networks. This method not only shows a competitive advantage in terms of accuracy when compared to the aforementioned techniques by improving the error by 5% on average, but also reduces execution training times by 90% when compared to a Gaussian process. To show the advantages of the proposal, 10%, 20%, and 30% of the data points are removed in the time series of a Poaceae pollen observation station in the region of Madrid, and the airborne concentrations from the remaining available stations in the network are used to impute the data removed. Even though the improvements in terms of accuracy are not significantly large, even if consistent, the gain in computational time and the flexibility of the proposed convolutional neural network allow field experts to adapt and extend the solution, for instance including meteorological variables, with the potential decrease of the errors reported in this paper.

scholarly journals Searching for a trace of Artemisia campestris pollen in the air

2015 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Łukasz Grewling ◽  
Idalia Kasprzyk ◽  
Katarzyna Borycka ◽  
Kazimiera Chłopek ◽  
Łukasz Kostecki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Season ◽  
Airborne Pollen ◽  
Rank Correlation ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Monitoring Site ◽  
Pollen Data ◽  
Pollen Monitoring ◽  
Bimodal Pattern ◽  
Pollen Seasons ◽  
Artemisia Campestris

The aim of the study was to determinate whether <em>Artemisia campestris</em> was present in the vicinity of 8 pollen monitoring stations in Poland by examining temporal variations in daily average airborne <em>Artemisia</em> pollen data recorded by Hirst type volumetric traps. Three day moving averages of airborne <em>Artemisia</em> pollen were examined by Spearman’s rank correlation test. Results show that <em>Artemisia</em> pollen seasons in Poland generally display similar unimodal patterns (correlation coefficients <em>r</em> &gt; 0.900; <em>P</em> &lt; 0.05). The only exception was the <em>Artemisia</em> pollen concentration noted in the outskirts of Poznań (Morasko), where the bimodal pattern was revealed. Correlations between <em>Artemisia</em> pollen data recorded at Poznań-Morasko and the other Polish sites were the lowest in the investigated dataset; this was particularly noticeable in the second part of pollen season (<em>r</em> ~0.730). We show that the typical bimodal pattern in <em>Artemisia</em> pollen seasons, which is characteristic of the presence of both <em>A. vulgaris</em> (first peak) and <em>A. campestris</em> (second peak), does not occur at the majority of sites in Poland and is restricted to the outskirts of Poznań. In fact, it was noted that the pollen monitoring site in Poznań-Centre, just 8 km from Morasko, only exhibited one peak (attributed to <em>A. vulgaris</em>). This shows that the influence of <em>A. campestris</em> on airborne pollen season curves is limited and can be largely disregarded. In addition, this study supports previous records showing that the spatial distribution of airborne <em>Artemisia</em> pollen within a city (urban-rural gradient) can vary markedly, depending on the species composition.

scholarly journals Pollen monitoring in Perm Krai (Russia) – experience of 6 years

2015 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larisa Viktorovna Novoselova ◽  
Nataliya Minaeva
Keyword(s):  
Airborne Pollen ◽  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Late Summer ◽  
Early Summer ◽  
Pollen Monitoring ◽  
Central Russia ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Poaceae Pollen ◽  
Perm Krai

Medical observations show that the level of pollinosis increased by 34.6% in central Russia in 2005–2012. This paper presents the results of 6-year pollen monitoring carried out with a Hirst-type pollen trap (Burkard Manufacturing Co. Ltd) between 2010 and 2015 in Perm Krai (Russia). Usually, sensitization of allergic people occurs in three periods: (i) spring due to the pollen of <em>Betula</em>, (ii) early summer due to Poaceae pollen, and (iii) late summer as a result of <em>Artemisia</em> pollen. <em>Betula</em> pollen, which is dominant (26.9–65.2% of total pollen counts), is recorded in large numbers in the period of flowering and occasionally during the entire period of pollination. Among herbaceous plants, the pollen of Poaceae, Urticaceae and <em>Artemisia</em> dominates in airborne pollen. The concentration of allergenic pollen grains in the air of Perm Krai is lower than in other European geographical regions.

scholarly journals Earlier Flowering of Betula pendula Roth in Augsburg, Germany, Due to Higher Temperature, NO2 and Urbanity and Relationship with Betula spp. Pollen Season

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (19) ◽  
pp. 10325
Author(s):  
Franziska Kolek ◽  
Maria Plaza ◽  
Vivien Leier-Wirtz ◽  
Arne Friedmann ◽  
Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Season ◽  
Betula Pendula ◽  
Airborne Pollen ◽  
Flowering Phenology ◽  
Random Trees ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Pollen Monitoring ◽  
Betula Pendula Roth ◽  
Full Flowering ◽  
Pollen Seasons

Flowering and pollen seasons are sensitive to environmental variability and are considered climate change indicators. However, it has not been concluded to what extent flowering phenology is indeed reflected in airborne pollen season locally. The aim of this study was to investigate, for the commonly represented in temperate climates and with highly allergenic pollen Betula pendula Roth, the responsiveness of flowering to different environmental regimes and also to check for commensurate changes in the respective pollen seasons. The region of Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany, was initially screened for birch trees, which were geolocated at a radius of 25 km. Random trees across the city were then investigated during three full flowering years, 2015–2017. Flowering observations were made 3–7 times a week, from flower differentiation to flower desiccation, in a total of 43 plant individuals. Data were regressed against meteorological parameters and air pollutant levels in an attempt to identify the driving factors of flowering onset and offset. Flowering dates were compared with dates of the related airborne pollen seasons per taxon; airborne pollen monitoring took place daily using a Hirst-type volumetric sampler. The salient finding was that flowering occurred earlier during warmer years; it also started earlier at locations with higher urbanity, and peaked and ended earlier at sites with higher NO2 concentrations. Airborne pollen season of Betula spp. frequently did not coincide locally with the flowering period of Betula pendula: while flowering and pollen season were synchronized particularly in their onset, local flowering phenology alone could explain only 57.3% of the pollen season variability. This raises questions about the relationship between flowering times and airborne pollen seasons and on the rather underestimated role of the long-distance transport of pollen.

scholarly journals Assessment of Salix spp. pollen availability to insects based on aerobiological investigations

2017 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Weryszko-Chmielewska ◽  
Krystyna Piotrowska-Weryszko ◽  
Aneta Sulborska ◽  
Beata Żuraw ◽  
Marta Dmitruk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Area ◽  
National Park ◽  
Pollen Season ◽  
Airborne Pollen ◽  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Pollen Content ◽  
Pollen Seasons ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Salix Spp

Pollen and nectar produced by flowers of species from the genus <em>Salix</em> are an important source of food for various insect groups in early spring. Most willows are entomophilous species; however, substantial amounts of airborne <em>Salix</em> pollen can be noted. The aim of the study was to evaluate the content of pollen of this taxon in the air of Lublin (central-east Poland) in 2001–2016 and to identify the period of its greatest availability to insects. In 2015, we compared the course of the <em>Salix</em> pollen season in Lublin (51°14'37" N; 22°32'25" E) and in the Roztoczański National Park (50°34'57" N; 23°04'24" E), Poland. We found that the date of the pollen season onset fluctuated greatly between March 16 and April 17. The greatest availability of <em>Salix</em> pollen to insects was noted from the end of the first 10-day-period of April to the first 10-day-period of May. The mean annual sum of airborne <em>Salix</em> pollen grains was 833. In Lublin, <em>Salix</em> pollen accounted for ca. 1.25% of the total airborne pollen content of different plant taxa. The investigations have demonstrated a 2-year cycle of <em>Salix</em> pollen abundance. The comparison of the pollen seasons in Lublin and in the Roztoczański National Park indicates that considerably greater amounts of pollen occur in the urban area than in the air of the Roztoczański National Park.

scholarly journals Potential Fertilization Capacity of Two Grapevine Varieties: Effects on Agricultural Production in Designation of Origin Areas in the Northwestern Iberian Peninsula

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 961
Author(s):  
J. Antonio Cortiñas Rodríguez ◽  
María Fernández-González ◽  
Estefanía González-Fernández ◽  
Rosa A. Vázquez-Ruiz ◽  
F. Javier Rodríguez-Rajo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Airborne Pollen ◽  
Germination Rate ◽  
Pollen Viability ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Triphenyl Tetrazolium Chloride ◽  
Tetrazolium Chloride ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
Fertilization Capacity

In the present study, we analyzed the main parameters related with the potential fertilization ability of two grapevine varieties, Godello and Mencía, during the years 2017 and 2018. The research was carried out in two vineyards of the Galician winegrowing Designation of Origin areas of Ribeiro and Ribeira Sacra. Ten vines of each variety were selected for bunch and flower counting, pollen calculations, pollen viability studies by means of aceto-carmine (AC) stain and 2, 3, 5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) methods, and the determination of their germination rate. In all vineyards the 50% fruitset was reached, except for Godello in Cenlle during 2017. The mean coulure value was higher for Godello (40.5%) than for Mencía (31%). Analyzing the pollen production per plant and airborne pollen levels, we observed important discordances between them, which can be due to the influence of weather conditions and be related with self-pollination processes. We found important differences on pollen viability depending on the applied method and variety, with higher values for the AC method than the TTC for both varieties in all study plots, and higher values for Mencía variety than Godello. Regarding germination rates, we observed a marked reduction in 2017 with respect to 2018, in all study sites and for both varieties. The analyzed parameters were useful to explain the different productive abilities of Godello and Mencía varieties in the two studied bioclimatic regions of Ribeiro and Ribeira Sacra.

Pattern of plasma progesterone, oestradiol-17β, luteinizing hormone and androgen in non-pregnant buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

1982 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Arora ◽  
R. S. Pandey
Keyword(s):  
Luteinizing Hormone ◽  
Peak Level ◽  
Systemic Circulation ◽  
Bubalus Bubalis ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Plasma Progesterone ◽  
Blood Samples ◽  
Androgen Level ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Low Levels

Abstract. Domestic buffaloes were used to characterize the pattern of progesterone, oestradiol-17β, LH and androgen in the systemic circulation following infertile insemination. Concentrations of hormones were measured by RIA in blood samples collected daily or at alternate days following insemination. The concentration of progesterone was lowest on the day of insemination, and increased significantly to a peak level of 4.00 ± 0.60 ng/ml by day 13 post insemination. After day 17, it declined significantly (P < 0.01) to reach low levels by day 21. The concentration of oestradiol-17β was high at the time of insemination and declined significantly (P < 0.01) by day 2 after insemination. It was maintained around the basal level till day 18 with minor peaks in between this period. It again rose significantly (P < 0.01) at subsequent oestrus. The mean level of LH was highest at the time of insemination, and declined significantly (P < 0.01) by day 1 post insemination. It did not vary appreciably till the animal returned to oestrus. The oestrous value of LH and progesterone were negatively correlated (r = −0.77). The androgen level was observed to be high at insemination in 3 out of 5 animals, but the overall pattern of this steroid was inconsistent during the period studied. A high concentration of androgen was recorded in all the animals from day 2–5 before the onset of oestrus.

scholarly journals The Relationship between Symptom Flare of Atopic Dermatitis and Airborne Japanese Cedar and Cypress Pollen Counts: A Self-Scoring Diary Study

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haruko Nishie ◽  
Mariko Kato ◽  
Shiori Kato ◽  
Hiroshi Odajima ◽  
Rumiko Shibata ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atopic Dermatitis ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Pollen Season ◽  
Airborne Pollen ◽  
Japanese Cedar ◽  
Diary Study ◽  
Pollen Counts ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Relationship

Background. With an increase in Japanese cedar and cypress (JC) pollinosis, the relationship between JC pollen and atopic dermatitis (AD) has been studied. Some reports suggest that JC pollen can be one exacerbating factor for AD, but there has been no report that discusses JC pollen counts relating to AD symptom flare although actual airborne JC pollen counts can widely fluctuate throughout the pollen season. Objective. The relationship between symptom flare of AD and airborne JC pollen counts was examined. Methods. We monitored JC pollen counts in real time and divided the counts into low and high level. We then analyzed self-scored “itch intensity” recorded by 14 AD patients through a self-scoring diary. Results. Among the 14 patients, 7 had significantly higher itch intensity while the pollen counts were high. Conclusion. Even during the pollen season, actual airborne pollen counts can widely fluctuate. Our study suggested that symptom flare of AD could be influenced by the actual pollen counts.

scholarly journals Neural networks for increased accuracy of allergenic pollen monitoring

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Polling ◽  
Chen Li ◽  
Lu Cao ◽  
Fons Verbeek ◽  
Letty A. de Weger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Airborne Pollen ◽  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Allergenic Pollen ◽  
Herbarium Specimens ◽  
Pollen Monitoring ◽  
Pollen Concentrations ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Urticaceae Pollen

AbstractMonitoring of airborne pollen concentrations provides an important source of information for the globally increasing number of hay fever patients. Airborne pollen is traditionally counted under the microscope, but with the latest developments in image recognition methods, automating this process has become feasible. A challenge that persists, however, is that many pollen grains cannot be distinguished beyond the genus or family level using a microscope. Here, we assess the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to increase taxonomic accuracy for airborne pollen. As a case study we use the nettle family (Urticaceae), which contains two main genera (Urtica and Parietaria) common in European landscapes which pollen cannot be separated by trained specialists. While pollen from Urtica species has very low allergenic relevance, pollen from several species of Parietaria is severely allergenic. We collect pollen from both fresh as well as from herbarium specimens and use these without the often used acetolysis step to train the CNN model. The models show that unacetolyzed Urticaceae pollen grains can be distinguished with > 98% accuracy. We then apply our model on before unseen Urticaceae pollen collected from aerobiological samples and show that the genera can be confidently distinguished, despite the more challenging input images that are often overlain by debris. Our method can also be applied to other pollen families in the future and will thus help to make allergenic pollen monitoring more specific.

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