Abstract
Grass pollen allergens are a frequent cause of pollen allergy in Poland and other European countries. The research on aeroplankton conducted in Lublin since 2001 allows characterization of the course of grass pollen seasons and estimation of the effect of maximum and minimum temperatures, relative air humidity, precipitation and maximum wind velocity on the taxon's pollen concentration. The gravimetric method was used in the study. During the eight-year research period, the pollen season usually started in the first or second decade of May and, as a rule, it lasted till the end of August, and quite exceptionally, in 2002 and 2008 till mid-August. The mean length of the pollen season was 107 days. The highest grass pollen risk was observed in the 26<sup>th</sup> and 27<sup>th</sup> week. The highest annual counts reaching over 3600 pollen grains × cm<sup>-2</sup> were noted in 2008, while in the other study years they ranged from 741 to 1909. The date of the pollen season onset and its course were highly dependent on weather conditions, which was confirmed by the statistical analysis. The greatest significant influence on the pollen season was exerted by maximum temperature, relative air humidity and the maximum wind.
Highlights
Poaceae are cosmopolitan plants which cover almost 20% of the land area
In order to analyse the influence of meteorological factors on the pollen season, daily values of five weather elements were taken into account: maximum and minimum temperature, relative air humidity, precipitation and maximum wind velocity noted from May to August 2001-2008, as well as minimum temperature of January in 2001-2008
In the years of study, the grass pollen season basically lasted till the end of August and exceptionally ended in the middle of the month in 2002 and 2008
Summary
Poaceae are cosmopolitan plants which cover almost 20% of the land area They comprise more than 9 thousand species (Tutin (Ed.), 1980; Clayton , 1993). In Poland, grass communities cover 4.1 mln ha, which equals 13.4 % of the country area. Grasses are predominantly anemophylous plants (Weryszko - Chmielewska and Piotrow - s k a , 2006). Their flowers produce great amounts of pollen (Poa annua approximately 1 000 pollen grains/ flower, 115 000/inflorescence, Dactylis glomerata 10 000/7 970 000, Festuca arundinacea 26 800/11 700 000), which is released within several minutes or a few hours, depending on the species (Piotrowska , 1999; Prieto - Baena et al 2003; Aboulaich et al 2009). Atmospheric conditions may have a great impact on the timing and abundance of grass pollen grains in the air (Emberlin et al 1994, 2000; Norris - H i l l , 1999; Sánchez - M e s a et al 2003, 2005; Clary et al 2004; Peternel et al 2006; Smith and Emberlin , 2006; Stach et al 2008; GarciaMozo , 2009)
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