Aeropalynological survey in the city center of Aydın (Turkey)

Authors: AYKUT GÜVENSEN, ULAŞ UĞUZ, TARIK ALTUN, AYLİN EŞİZ DEREBOYLU, NEDRET ŞENGONCA TORT

Abstract: Airborne pollen grains in Aydın, an important city for agriculture and tourism in the western part of Turkey, were studied for 2 years (2014 and 2015) using the volumetric method. During a 2-year study conducted in the city center, an average of 19,226 pollen grains belonging to 46 taxa were detected. Among these detected taxa, 29 (average 73.97%) belonged to arboreal plants and 17 (average 24.95%) to nonarboreal plants. The highest pollen concentrations belonged to Olea europaea (21.02%), Quercus (15.23%), Poaceae (11.89%), Pinaceae (11.47%), Cupressaceae/Taxaceae (11.11%), Platanus(4.12%), Morus (3.83%), and Urticaceae (3.58%), which were considered to be the dominant species. We used the Spearman correlation test to assess the relationship between the daily pollen concentrations belonging to these 8 taxa and the mean average temperature (°C), daily precipitation (mm), mean average relative humidity (%), and mean average wind speed (m/sec), which yielded significant results. A negative correlation was found between the average temperature and the pollen concentrations of Poaceae, Pinaceae, Cupressaceae/Taxaceae, Morus, and Urtica in both years. Furthermore, while the average wind speed only had a negative effect on the pollen concentrations of some taxa, the effects of relative humidity and precipitation on the pollen concentrations of dominant taxa varied from one taxon to another and between the 2 years. The results obtained in this study indicated that the top 3 dominant airborne pollen types (Olea europaea, Quercus, and Poaceae) in the atmosphere of Aydın generally had allergenic effects at high levels, and the highest pollen concentration during the study period was detected in May.

Keywords: Aerobiology, airborne pollen, meteorological parameters

Full Text: PDF