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Plants remember past weather: a study for atmospheric pollen concentrations of Ambrosia, Poaceae and Populus

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Abstract

After extreme dry (wet) summers or years, pollen production of different taxa may decrease (increase) substantially. Accordingly, studying effects of current and past meteorological conditions on current pollen concentrations for different taxa have of major importance. The purpose of this study is separating the weight of current and past weather conditions influencing current pollen productions of three taxa. Two procedures, namely multiple correlations and factor analysis with special transformation are used. The 11-year (1997–2007) data sets include daily pollen counts of Ambrosia (ragweed), Poaceae (grasses) and Populus (poplar), as well as daily values of four climate variables (temperature, relative humidity, global solar flux and precipitation). Multiple correlations of daily pollen counts with simultaneous values of daily meteorological variables do not show annual course for Ambrosia, but do show definite trends for Populus and Poaceae. Results received using the two methods revealed characteristic similarities. For all the three taxa, the continental rainfall peak and additional local showers in the growing season can strengthen the weight of the current meteorological elements. However, due to the precipitation, big amount of water can be stored in the soil contributing to the effect of the past climate elements during dry periods. Higher climate sensitivity (especially water sensitivity) of the herbaceous taxa (Ambrosia and Poaceae) can be definitely established compared to the arboreal Populus. Separation of the weight of the current and past weather conditions for different taxa involves practical importance both for health care and agricultural production.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Gábor Motika (Environmental Conservancy Inspectorate, Szeged, Hungary) for providing the meteorological data of Szeged and Miklós Juhász (University of Szeged) for providing the daily pollen concentration data of Szeged. This research was supported by the European Union and the State of Hungary, cofinanced by the European Social Fund in the framework of TÁMOP 4.2.4. A/2-11-1-2012-0001 ‘National Excellence Program’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Meteorology, Eötvös Loránd University, 1117, Budapest, Pázmány Péter st. 1/A, Hungary

    István Matyasovszky

  2. Department of Climatology and Landscape Ecology, University of Szeged, 6701, Szeged, P.O.B. 653, Hungary

    László Makra, Zoltán Csépe & Zoltán Sümeghy

  3. Department of Physical Geography and Geoinformatics, University of Szeged, 6701, Szeged, P.O.B. 653, Hungary

    Áron József Deák

  4. Department of Mineralogy, Geochemistry and Petrology, University of Szeged, 6701, Szeged, P.O.B. 653, Hungary

    Elemér Pál-Molnár

  5. Mathematical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1364, Budapest, P.O.B. 127, Hungary

    Gábor Tusnády

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  1. István Matyasovszky
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  2. László Makra
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Correspondence to László Makra.

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Matyasovszky, I., Makra, L., Csépe, Z. et al. Plants remember past weather: a study for atmospheric pollen concentrations of Ambrosia, Poaceae and Populus . Theor Appl Climatol 122, 181–193 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-014-1280-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-014-1280-2

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