Seasonal Variations of Airborne Pollen Grains in Karabük, Turkey

Abstract

The concentrations of airborne pollen grains were recorded and analyses for continuous two years period (1 January 2006-31 December 2007). Pollen grains and spores were sampled using two Durham samplers. During this period, pollen grains belonging to 45 taxa were recorded. The total quantity of pollen grains were 3877±280.65/cm 2 found in 2006, 4022±259.50/cm 2 were in 2007. From these, pollen grains of woody plants were recorded as 3515±225.53/cm 2 in 2006 and 3635±220.98/cm 2 in 2007. Pollen grains of herbaceous plants were noted as 355±54.12/cm 2 in 2006 and 375±37.42/cm 2 in 2007. Pollen grains of bushy plants were found as 7±1/cm 2 in 2006 and 12±1.4/cm 2 in 2007. No statistically significant differences have been found between pollen counts from two samplers (t=0.0090-0.7818, p> 0.05). Pinus pollen grains were recorded highest level throughout two years. The other arboreal pollen types were Fagus , Ostrya , Quercus , Pistacia , Cupressaceae/Taxaceae, Salix and Abies . Gramineae, Brassicaceae and Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae pollen were recorded highest level of herbaceous plants. Weekly concentrations of pollen grains have been displayed to connection of meteorological factors by Spearman Correlation analysis. The two-year pollen calendar of Karabuk atmosphere was prepared.