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Atmospheric particulate matter deposition on birch catkins and pollen grains before pollination

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Abstract

Birch is the most allergenic tree species in Northern and Central Europe. Airborne birch pollen concentrations are observed to be on the rise for several decades. Health hazard due to birch pollen grains (BPGs) can worsen due to particulate air pollution. The prevalence of the intimate mixture of BPGs with atmospheric particulate matter (APM) at the single pollen grain level is still unraveled. In this study, APM transfer mechanisms to birch catkins and BPGs prior to pollination were investigated at an urban-industrial and a peri-urban site in Northern France. The surface of catkins was heavily polluted with micrometer-sized particles. Conversely, BPGs were relatively unpolluted with on average 0.1 particle.BPG−1. Differences in the chemical composition of adhered particles were observed as a function of the sampling sites. In contrast, no significant difference was found in terms of surface concentrations of APM adhered to BPGs and catkins between the two sites. Comparison of the number of particles deposited per pollen grain according to whether they were harvested from catkins or collected while airborne suggests that particulate pollution of pollen occurs preferentially after pollen shedding, either by impaction or coagulation mechanisms with other suspended APM or by pollen settling on dust-contaminated surfaces followed by resuspension.

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Acknowledgements

MC and NV thank Université de Lille, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Institut de Recherches Pluridisciplinaires en Sciences de l’Environnement (IREPSE Fed 4129) for financial support. The CaPPA project (Chemical and Physical Properties of the Atmosphere) is funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR) through the PIA (Programme d'Investissement d'Avenir) under contract ANR-11-LABX-005-01. This work is a contribution to the CPER research projects CLIMIBIO and IRENE. Marc Fourmentin from LPCA is thanked for providing meteorological data. Air quality data were provided by Atmo Hauts-de-France. The authors thank the French Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, the Hauts de France Region and the European Funds for Regional Economic Development for their financial support to this project.

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  1. LASIRE, Laboratoire Avancé de Spectroscopie pour les Interactions, la Réactivité et l’Environnement, Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 8516, 59000, Lille, France

    Marie Choël & Nicolas Visez

  2. LPCA, Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie de l’Atmosphère, Univ. Littoral Côte d’Opale, 59140, Dunkerque, France

    Xavier Secordel & Karine Deboudt

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  1. Marie Choël
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Choël, M., Visez, N., Secordel, X. et al. Atmospheric particulate matter deposition on birch catkins and pollen grains before pollination. Aerobiologia 38, 151–162 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10453-022-09739-6

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