• Bastl M, Berger M, Bastl K, Dirr L, Zwingers T, Bergmann KC, Pfaar O, Bruffaerts N, Magyar D, Majkowska-Wojciechowska B, Mitrovic Josipovic M, Rybnícek O, Stjepanovic B, Werchan M, Berger U. Development of the EAACI% season definition a backup for a global application. Allergy. 2022 Apr;77(4):1315-1317. doi: 10.1111/all.15220. Epub 2022 Feb 3. PMID: 35112730.
    (First published: 19 January 2022)
  • Godfrey Philliam Apangu, Beverley Adams-Groom, Jack Satchwell, Catherine H. Pashley, Malgorzata Werner, Maciej Kryza, Mariusz Szymanowski, Malgorzata Malkiewicz, Nicolas Bruffaerts, Lucie Hoebeke, Agnieszka Grinn-Gofron, Lukasz Grewling, Nestor Gonzalez Roldan, Gilles Oliver, Charlotte Sindt, Mathilde Kloster, Carsten Ambelas Skjøth. Sentinel-2 satellite and HYSPLIT model suggest that local cereal harvesting substantially contribute to peak Alternaria spore concentrations, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. Volume 326, 2022, 109156, ISSN 0168-1923, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2022.109156.
    (First published: 19. September 2022)
    Abstract: Alternaria is a human/animal allergen and plant/animal pathogen. Cereal harvesting emits a large amount of Alternaria spores into the atmosphere. However, estimating the peak spore periods and source areas from large areas is often a challenge because of insufficient observation stations. The purpose of this study was to examine, using remote sensing and an atmospheric transport and dispersion model, the contribution of cereal harvesting to peak Alternaria spore concentrations. Daily Alternaria spores were collected using Hirst-type traps in 12 sites in Europe for the period 2016-2018. Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) back-trajectory and dispersion model was integrated with Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, Corine Land Cover 2018 (CLC2018) and Eurostat cereal data 2016 to map the Alternaria spore peaks and source areas in the 12 sites. Ground truth harvest data, collected at Worcester, UK, in 2018, and meteorological data were used to determine any effect of cereal harvesting and weather on peak spore concentrations. The results showed that the Sentinel-2 satellite detected agricultural areas that underwent intensive harvesting and this coincided with a rapid increase of Alternaria spore concentrations. Furthermore, local agricultural areas cultivated with cereals were the main sources of the peak Alternaria spore concentrations in all the study sites. Remote agricultural and non-agricultural sources, to a lesser extent, contributed to the peak spore concentrations at some sites, e.g. Borstel, Leicester and Worcester. Temperature during the harvesting periods (July and August) was found to significantly contribute to the peak spore concentrations. Overall, the study showed that it is possible to use Sentinel-2 satellite data alongside atmospheric transport and dispersion models to estimate periods of peak Alternaria spore concentrations and sources at a continental scale. This approach can be replicated for other bioaerosols that affect human health, agriculture and forestry.
  • Werchan, M., Flener, D. & Bergmann, KC. Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) pollen—a possible new source of sensitization in Central Europe. Allergo J Int (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40629-022-00228-3
    (First published: 07 October 2022)
  • Abraham, V., Kuneš, P., Vild, O. et al. Spatial scaling of pollen-plant diversity relationship in landscapes with contrasting diversity patterns. Sci Rep 12, 17937 (2022). doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22353-3
    (First published: 26 October 2022)
    Abstract Mitigating the effects of global change on biodiversity requires its understanding in the past. The main proxy of plant diversity, fossil pollen record, has a complex relationship to surrounding vegetation and unknown spatial scale. We explored both using modern pollen spectra in species-rich and species-poor regions in temperate Central Europe. We also considered the biasing effects of the trees by using sites in forests and open habitats in each region. Pollen samples were collected from moss polsters at 60 sites and plant species were recorded along two 1 km-transects at each site. We found a significant positive correlation between pollen and plant richness (alpha diversity) in both complete datasets and for both subsets from open habitats. Pollen richness in forest datasets is not significantly related to floristic data due to canopy interception of pollen rather than to pollen productivity. Variances (beta diversity) of the six pollen and floristic datasets are strongly correlated. The source area of pollen richness is determined by the number of species appearing with increasing distance, which aggregates information on diversity of individual patches within the landscape mosaic and on their compositional similarity. Our results validate pollen as a reconstruction tool for plant diversity in the past.