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Regional and seasonal variation in airborne grass pollen levels between cities of Australia and New Zealand
Citation
Medek, DE and Beggs, PJ and Erbas, B and Jaggard, AK and Campbell, BC and Vicendese, D and Johnston, FH and Godwin, I and Huete, AR and Green, BJ and Burton, PK and Bowman, DMJS and Newnham, RM and Katelaris, CH and Haberle, SG and Newbigin, E and Davies, JM, Regional and seasonal variation in airborne grass pollen levels between cities of Australia and New Zealand, Aerobiologia, 32, (2) pp. 289-302. ISSN 0393-5965 (2016) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
DOI: doi:10.1007/s10453-015-9399-x
Abstract
Although grass pollen is widely regarded
as the major outdoor aeroallergen source in Australia
and New Zealand (NZ), no assemblage of airborne
pollen data for the region has been previously
compiled. Grass pollen count data collected at 14
urban sites in Australia and NZ over periods ranging
from 1 to 17 years were acquired, assembled and
compared, revealing considerable spatiotemporal
variability. Although direct comparison between these
data is problematic due to methodological differences between monitoring sites, the following patterns are
apparent. Grass pollen seasons tended to have more
than one peak from tropics to latitudes of 37S and
single peaks at sites south of this latitude. A longer
grass pollen season was therefore found at sites below
37S, driven by later seasonal end dates for grass
growth and flowering. Daily pollen counts increased
with latitude; subtropical regions had seasons of both
high intensity and long duration. At higher latitude
sites, the single springtime grass pollen peak is potentially due to a cooler growing season and a
predominance of pollen from C3 grasses. The multiple
peaks at lower latitude sites may be due to a warmer
season and the predominance of pollen from C4
grasses. Prevalence and duration of seasonal allergies
may reflect the differing pollen seasons across Australia
and NZ. It must be emphasized that these
findings are tentative due to limitations in the available
data, reinforcing the need to implement standardized
pollen-monitoring methods across Australasia. Furthermore,
spatiotemporal differences in grass pollen
counts indicate that local, current, standardized pollen
monitoring would assist with the management of
pollen allergen exposure for patients at risk of allergic
rhinitis and asthma.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | aerobiology, latitude, grass pollen, plant distribution, Australia, New Zealand |
| Research Division: | Environmental Sciences |
| Research Group: | Environmental Science and Management |
| Research Field: | Environmental Monitoring |
| Objective Division: | Health |
| Objective Group: | Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) |
| Objective Field: | Environmental Health |
| Author: | Johnston, FH (Associate Professor Fay Johnston) |
| Author: | Bowman, DMJS (Professor David Bowman) |
| ID Code: | 102518 |
| Year Published: | 2016 (online first 2015) |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 3 |
| Deposited By: | Menzies Institute for Medical Research |
| Deposited On: | 2015-08-26 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-10-31 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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