Distribution of Allergenic Pollen in a Metropolitan Region

Worldwide, approximately every fifth person suffers from allergic rhinitis, frequently caused by a reaction to pollen. Nowadays, more than half of the global population lives in urban areas. Nevertheless, large cities are often equipped with just one pollen trap to provide information about aerial pollen content. Therefore, there is still a lack of information about the spatial distribution of pollen on an intra-urban scale and the possible effects on human health. In order to widen the knowledge about pollen distribution in urban environments, allergenic pollen – birch (Betula), grass (Poaceae), and mugwort (Artemisia) – was monitored with a network of fourteen traps within the large city of Berlin, and birch and grass pollen were monitored with four pollen traps within the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region in 2014. Further, the detected pollen data and anonymously reported, geographically localized, pollen-induced symptom data were used to study temporal and spatial relationships between these two variables in the Berlin/Brandenburg metropolitan region, in the city of Berlin, and for the first time in different areas of a city on the example of Berlin. The seasonal pollen courses of birch and grass exhibited significantly positive correlations between all possible combinations of the fourteen traps in Berlin. For mugwort, the correlations were only to some extent significantly positive. In contrast to those mainly temporal similarities, remarkable spatial variations in the pollen distribution within the city were demonstrated, with the highest differences occurring in mugwort. The correlations between detected pollen and symptom levels during corresponding pollen seasons in the city of Berlin, its different areas, and the metropolitan region were found to be to a large extent significantly positive, with the weakest correlations occurring in mugwort. Higher amounts of birch and grass pollen measured in the suburban area than in the city center of Berlin were followed by more severe symptoms reported from the suburban area during the birch and grass pollen seasons. For mugwort, no such a relationship was found. The presented and discussed results of the study - substantiate the large differences in the spatial distribution of important allergenic pollen taxa within a city, - highlight the benefit of using further pollen traps to monitor pollen within large urban areas, - emphasize the importance of pollen as an significant cause of allergenic rhinitis and allergenic asthma. Considering the ongoing urbanization, it is necessary to expand further the knowledge about pollen exposure and pollen allergy in urban environments.

Author dc:creator

• Werchan, Barbora

• allergenic pollen
• spatial distribution
• urban environment
• metropolitan region
• pollen monitoring
• pollen trap
• aerobiology
• Berlin

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://www.fu-berlin.de/sites/refubium/rechtliches/Nutzungsbedingungen

Language dc:language

ger, eng

Identifier URI

http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-27245

OAI record oai:identifier

https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Arefubium.fu-berlin.de%3Afub188%2F27489