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Changes in the Mediterranean pine forest: pollination patterns and annual trends of airborne pollen

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Abstract

In some areas, forests are being affected in diverse aspects such as structure, composition and biodiversity showing an increase or a decrease in the growth rates. Pinus is one of the most dominant genera in the forests of the Northern Hemisphere. This study analyzes the pine pollination patterns in 30 locations of Spain with an average of 21-year dataset. The aim is to evaluate possible changes in flowering intensity as well as in annual pollen production trends, according to the airborne pollen patterns. Annual Pollen Indices show three threshold values: (1) over 4000 grains per year in Catalonia, the Central System Mountains and Ourense (Galicia), (2) between 4000 and 1000 grains in central-south Spain and in the Balearic Islands, and (3) under 1000 in eastern Spain, Cartagena and the Canary Islands. Airborne pollen patterns were also influenced by Pinus species: The species located in the littoral and low land areas pollinated in the first pollination phase, from February to April, and the mountain pine species did in the second one, from April to June. The statistical analyses reveal increasing significant trends in 12 sites and significant decreasing trends in two. The Pinus flowering intensity is showing an earlier start and a delay in the end of the pollination period, thus a longer period of pollen in the air. This study suggests that the aerobiological monitoring is an interesting bio-indicator of changes happening in Pinus landscapes, and therefore explains the vulnerability of this genus in Spain.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank different projects and entities for financing this study: COST ES0603 EUPOL; Laboratorios LETI S.A.; Proyecto EOLO-PAT; European Commission for “ENV4-CT98-0755”; Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology I+D+I for “CGL2009-11205,” “CGL2012-39523-C02-01/CLI,” “MTM2015 67802-P,” “FENOMED CGL2014-54731-R,” and FEDER “A way to build Europe,” and CONSOLIDER CSD 2007_00067 GRACCIE; also the Andalusian Government for “P10-RNM-5958,” the Extremadura Government for “PRI BS10008,” the Catalan Government AGAUR for “2009SGR1102” and “2014SGR1274” and the Health Department of the Castilla y León Government, RACYL. This work is contributing to the ICTA “Unit of Excellence” (MinECo, MDM2015-0552).

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  1. Concepción De Linares

    Present address: Unitat de Botànica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici C, Bellaterra, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unitat de Botànica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain

    Concepción De Linares & Jordina Belmonte

  2. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain

    Concepción De Linares & Jordina Belmonte

  3. Departament de Matemàtiques, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain

    Rosario Delgado

  4. Department of Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Maria Jesús Aira

  5. Department of Botany, Ecology and Plant Physiology, Campus de Rabanales, University of Cordoba, Córdoba, Spain

    Purificación Alcázar & Carmen Galán

  6. Universidad Europea de Canarias, Laureate International Universities, La Orotava, Spain

    Silvia Alonso-Pérez

  7. Department of Biology, Area of Botany, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

    Marzia Boi

  8. Department of Botany, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Paloma Cariñanos, Consuelo Díaz de la Guardia & Ana Valle

  9. Centro de Investigación Atmosférica de Izaña, Agencia Estatal de Meteorología, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain

    Emilio Cuevas

  10. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Polytechnic University of Cartagena, Cartagena, Spain

    Belén Elvira-Rendueles

  11. Department of Biodiversity and Environmental Management (Botany), University of León, León, Spain

    Delia Fernández-González & Rosa M. Valencia-Barrera

  12. Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (CNR), Bologna, Italy

    Delia Fernández-González

  13. Department of Plant Biology II, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Adela Montserrat Gutiérrez-Bustillo

  14. Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo, Spain

    Rosa Pérez-Badia

  15. Department of Plant Biology and Soil Sciences, University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain

    Francisco Javier Rodríguez-Rajo

  16. Department of Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology, University of Jaén, Jaén, Spain

    Luis Ruíz-Valenzuela

  17. Department of Plant Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain

    Rafael Tormo-Molina

  18. Department of Plant Biology, University of Málaga, Málaga, Spain

    Maria del Mar Trigo

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  1. Concepción De Linares
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  2. Rosario Delgado
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  20. Ana Valle
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Correspondence to Concepción De Linares.

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De Linares, C., Delgado, R., Aira, M.J. et al. Changes in the Mediterranean pine forest: pollination patterns and annual trends of airborne pollen. Aerobiologia 33, 375–391 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10453-017-9476-4

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