Abstract

Meteorological conditions and the distribution of pollen sources are the two most decisive factors influencing the concentration of airborne grass pollen. However, knowledge about land-use types, their potential pollen emission, and the importance of local sources remains limited. In this study, wild grass pollen concentrations from 27 stations in Bavaria, Germany, were linked to potential pollen within a 30 km radius. Agricultural grass pollen sources were derived from the InVeKos database, which contains detailed information on agricultural land-use types and their spatial distribution. Non-agricultural grassland was identified by OpenStreetMap. Further source classification was conducted using a cultivation intensity indicator and wind direction. We show that the grassland percentage and pollen concentrations, specified as annual pollen integral and pollen peak vary strongly between pollen stations. Correlation analyses indicated that the impact of the grassland on pollen concentration was greater within 10 km of the pollen traps. At greater distances, the correlation coefficient between the grassland percentage and pollen indicators steadily declined.

Highlights

  • Allergy-inducing pollen is the most common cause of outdoor allergies across Europe [1,2], affecting 14.8% of the population in Germany [3]

  • It can be concluded that the applied cultivation intensity (CI) and wind weighting method is suitable, especially for the investigation of local pollen sources and their contribution to the measured wild grass pollen concentration

  • This is the first study combining high-resolution landuse data weighted by cultivation intensity and wind direction with wild grass pollen concentrations

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Summary

Introduction

Allergy-inducing pollen is the most common cause of outdoor allergies across Europe [1,2], affecting 14.8% of the population in Germany [3]. Pollen-related asthma was predicted to increase in the future due to higher sensitization rates toward pollen allergies or progressive interaction between air pollutants and pollen [4,5], it seems to stabilize at a high level in Germany [6]. Among the pollen species triggering hay fever, those from birch and grass are the most relevant in Europe and in Germany, as more than 90% of patients allergic to pollen are sensitive to these two species [7,8,9]. The pollen concentration and hay fever symptoms are, to a certain degree, directly connected; an increasing amount of pollen in the air induces more severe hay fever symptoms [10,11]

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