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First airborne pollen calendar for Mexico City and its relationship with bioclimatic factors

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Abstract

The worldwide human population suffering from allergies continues to increase. Pollen grains are a major source of airborne allergens and significant cause of these diseases. Therefore, continuous monitoring of pollen grains released and transported in the air locally or regionally is required to determine the prevalence of various pollen types and identify intra-day and intra-annual seasonal variations over time. In this study, we developed the first pollen calendar for Mexico City, which includes a large variety of taxa, many of which show a long Main Pollen Season which may last throughout the year. The analysis and comparison of daily, monthly and annual values showed that the occurrence and abundance of the main types of aero-allergenic pollen in the atmosphere were species of Fraxinus, Cupressaceae and Alnus, which occur during the periods from December through March, whereas airborne pollens of several species of Poaceae and Urticaceae occurred throughout the year. The variation in pollen concentration showed that the greatest intra-diurnal variations occurred during the second half of the day. Regarding the relationship of pollen with bioclimatic factors, the increase in temperature favoured the presence of pollen in the air, whereas the increase in pluvial precipitation and relative humidity was associated with a decrease in airborne pollen. Large tracts of the Valley of Mexico have atmospheric conditions that are conducive to the accumulation of airborne particles, including pollen. Anomalous winds from the southeast dominated the surface wind variability during the first months of 2010. These patterns induced extreme values in wind convergence at the lower levels of the atmosphere, which resulted in high concentrations of pollen at our sampling site. We suggest that these conditions are related to the warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation phenomenon (2009–2010).

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank to Adriana Guerrero Parra, Miguel Meneses Pérez, Wilfrido Gutiérrez López and García Espinosa Manuel for their technical assistance. Also Octavio Gómez Ramos to provide 5 days of forecast conducted at the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, UNAM. We thank for financial support to: Secretaría de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (PICS012-100); Programa de Apoyo a Proyectos de Investigación e Inovación Tecnológica (IN201109-3), (IA100912), UNAM; Centro Virtual de Cambio Climático, UNAM; Programa de Investigación en Cambio Climático, UNAM; and Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional de Desarrollo.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Ciencias de la Atmósfera, Ciudad Universitaria, Universidad Nacional, Autónoma de México (UNAM), Circuito Exterior, C.P. 04510, Mexico, DF, Mexico

    M. C. Calderón-Ezquerro, C. Guerrero-Guerra, B. Martínez-López, F. Fuentes-Rojas, F. Téllez-Unzueta, E. D. López-Espinoza & M. E. Calderón-Segura

  2. Instituto Nacional de Ecología y Cambio Climático, Periférico 5000, Col. Insurgentes Cuicuilco, Delegación Coyoacán, C.P. 04530, Mexico, DF, Mexico

    A. Martínez-Arroyo

  3. Departamento de Biología Vegetal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Apdo. 59, 29080, Málaga, Spain

    M. M. Trigo-Pérez

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  1. M. C. Calderón-Ezquerro
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  2. C. Guerrero-Guerra
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  3. B. Martínez-López
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Calderón-Ezquerro, M.C., Guerrero-Guerra, C., Martínez-López, B. et al. First airborne pollen calendar for Mexico City and its relationship with bioclimatic factors. Aerobiologia 32, 225–244 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10453-015-9392-4

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