Title
Behaviour of Quercus pollen in the air, determination of its sources and transport through the atmosphere of Mexico City and conurbated areas
Date Issued
01 September 2018
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Calderón-Ezquerro M.C.
Martinez-Lopez B.
Guerrero-Guerra C.
López-Espinosa E.D.
Cabos-Narvaez W.D.
Publisher(s)
Springer New York LLC
Abstract
Pollen allergies have a remarkable clinical impact all over world. Quercus pollen is the main allergen in many parts of world. Due to the health impacts caused by exposure to oak pollen, the objectives of this study are to characterise the aerobiological behaviour of Quercus pollen and to determine its potential sources as well as their transport through the atmosphere of Mexico City and surrounding areas between January 2012 and June 2015. Airborne Quercus pollen monitoring was carried out simultaneously in five zones of Mexico City. The percentage of Quercus pollen of the total pollen collected from the air showed that the highest concentration was recorded in 2014, followed by 2012. The annual seasonal variation indicated that flowering and pollen emission into the atmosphere began between February and March. The maximum concentration of Quercus pollen was reached at Cuajimalpa. In 2012, the amount of pollen grains was distributed in March and April uniformly, whilst in 2014, the largest amount of pollen was concentrated in March. In 2012 and 2014 (years with the highest pollen concentrations), corresponding intraday variations were quite similar, with a low relative maximum in the morning and the highest concentrations in the evening. The largest values were recorded in 2014, and two processes can explain these. In the afternoon, pollen from secondary forest is carried by southwesterly converging winds, increasing the pollen concentration in Cuajimalpa. In the evening, there is an additional pollen contribution from primary forest via transport by NW winds.
Start page
1721
End page
1732
Volume
62
Issue
9
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Conservación de la Biodiversidad
Ciencias del medio ambiente
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85048535823
PubMed ID
Source
International Journal of Biometeorology
ISSN of the container
00207128
Sponsor(s)
Funding This work was funded by the Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología e Innovación de la Ciudad de México (SECITI/PICS012– 100/2012 and by SECITI/050/2016); by Instituto Nacional de Ecología y Cambio Climático (INECC/A1–004/2014); by CONACYT-SEMARNAT (2015–1-262680); and Programa de Apoyo a Proyectos de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica (IN201109–3, IA100912), UNAM.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus