Pollen calendar of Bahía Blanca (Argentina)

MURRAY, M G; VILLAMIL, C B; GALÁN SOLDEVILLA, C

Neuchâtel, Suiza

Congreso; 8th International Congress on Aerobiology; 2006

International Association for Aerobiology

The city of Bahía Blanca (38°44´S; 62°16´W) is located in the Southwestern part of the Buenos Aires province, in the temperate region, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. Bahía Blanca is a city with a high incidence of allergies among the population (Herraiz Ballestero and Monticelli, 1943) and with one of the most important airborne pollen databases in Argentina. The area is located within the Pampas phytogeographic province, characterized by the lack of trees and the dominance of herbs of the grass family, but with components of Espinal province, typically a xerophytic deciduous forest, and Monte province, a semi-arid shrubby steppe. The aim of this study has been to define the pollen season of the most important pollen types in the atmosphere to provide a preventive measurement for polinosis.  A pollen calendar for the city of Bahía Blanca is presented; the data were gathered from the daily analysis of the atmosphere during the years 1994-1998 and 2000 - 2003. The calendar includes the pollen types that had reached at least a mean decennial value of 1 grain per cubic meter during some period of the year. The pollen types are chronologically represented according to the appearance order in the pollen spectrum. A volumetric impact sampler Rotorod model 40 has been used.  The calendar lists the 29 pollen types most representative in the atmosphere of Bahía Blanca from the 64 that have been identified in the city. The types who reach the highest exponential class are Cupressaceae, Myrtaceae, Fraxinus, Poaceae and Pinus, and the types characterized by very long pollination periods (more than six months) are Poaceae, Amaranthus-Chenopodiaceae and Cupressaceae. Other representative pollen types are Brassicaceae, Urticaceae, Aster, Casuarina, Ulmus, Schinus, Morus and Olea. The season of the year with a higher diversity of pollen types is the spring, in particular during October, when 13 types were detected.  The observations in Bahía Blanca differ from the obtained results in other cities studied in Argentina, in particular for the high levels of Fraxinus, Myrtaceae and Cupressaseae (arboreal pollen types), Amaranthus-Chenopodiaceae and Poaceae (herbaceous pollen types). Herraiz Ballestero L. and Monticelli J. V. (1943) Polinosis. Librería Hachette S.A. Buenos Aires.