Airborne pollen monitoring in San Miguel de Tucumán, august 2006-july 2007

GARCÍA, M.E.; REYES, N.J; NITIU, D.S

Buenos Aires

Congreso; 9Th. International Congress on Aerobiology; 2010

International Association Aerobiology

  The aim of this work is to characterize the aero-palynological airborne pollen in San Miguel de Tucumán city during the period   August 2006  to  July  2007  and to make a pollen calendar with the obtained data. This is the first step  towards a project relating airborne pollen trends to pollinosis in the region. A volumetric Burkard spore trap was placed at a height of  20 meters on the  roof  of the Fundación Miguel Lillo. Slides were  prepared according to standard  methods.  Pollen grains were counted along  six longitudinal transects (2, 8, 10, 14, 20  and 22 hours) to estimate daily pollen concentration. The  presence  of  55  different  pollen types  to native and exotic  taxa were identified . The total amount of pollen  recorded was 4.259,82 grains/m3 . The highest  pollen concentration was observed   from  August  to December with the  86,82 %. In September  pollen concentration was  the  highest with 28,87%. Brousonettia (994 grains/m3 )  and   Urticaceae  (655 grains/m3 ) reached the  maximum values of pollen concentration. Brousonettia (39,07%), Urticaceae (18,82%), Celtis (8,82 %),  Asteraceae (6,3%), Morus (5,54%),  Alnus (4,82%), Poaceae (2,74%),  Amaranthaceae- Chenopodiaceae  (1,68%), and Fraxinus (1.38 %) contributed  with  more than 90 %  of total pollen.  The results  of this study  revealed a diverse  airborne pollen record,  with taxa related mostly to the  introduced urban vegetation but also a little to the native flora. Besides being more abundant exotic vegetation is recognized as allergenic mention.