Status and Trend of the Main Allergenic Pollen Grains and Alternaria Spores in the City of Rome (2003–2019)

Alessandro Di Menno di Bucchianico (), Raffaela Gaddi, Maria Antonia Brighetti, Denise De Franco, Annarosa Miraglia and Alessandro Travaglini
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Alessandro Di Menno di Bucchianico: ISPRA—Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Via Brancati 48, 00144 Rome, Italy
Raffaela Gaddi: ISPRA—Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Via Brancati 48, 00144 Rome, Italy
Maria Antonia Brighetti: PhD Program in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
Denise De Franco: PhD Program in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
Annarosa Miraglia: PhD Program in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
Alessandro Travaglini: PhD Program in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: Today a large part of the European population is exposed to levels of air pollution exceeding the standards recommended by the World Health Organization. Moreover, air pollution and the seasonal emission of allergenic pollen are progressively affecting human health and can cause severe allergic reactions, particularly when air pollution combines with pollen allergen peaks. Unlike atmospheric pollutants of anthropogenic origin, pollen sources have a pulsating trend that leads to high values in the flowering period and values close to, or equal to, zero in the rest of the year. This aspect makes essential the definition of data coverage standards for the main allergenic taxa. For air quality assessment detailed classification criteria for monitoring stations are defined by international standards, not the same from the European Standards for the Sampling and analysis of airborne pollen grains and fungal spores. This paper describes the status and the air concentration trends of the main allergenic pollen and the Alternaria spore measured in Rome from 2003 to 2019 by the Aerobiological Monitoring Center of Tor Vergata (Rome) and calculated by the Seasonal Kendall test with the open-source OpenAir R package. The analysis was carried out on the daily concentrations of the most widespread allergenic taxa in Italy: Asteraceae, Betulaceae, Corylaceae, Cupressaceae/Taxaceae, Poaceae, Oleaceae, Urticaceae and the Alternaria spores.

Keywords: pollen; atmospheric pollution; urban areas; allergy; pollen concentration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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