Analysis of airborne pollen fall in Canakkale, Turkey

Abstract

Airborne pollen in the State of Canakkale was determined during 2000-2001 using two Durham samplers. The samplers were placed 15 m above the ground on the rooftops of the city hospital and of the meteorological station situated alongside the straits of Dardanelle. By the end of the year averages of pollen counts from the 2 samplers were calculated. In total 4095 pollen belonging to 39 taxa were counted. Out of these, 3548 belonged to the arboreal species (86.65%), 483 to non-arboreal taxa (11.78%) and 64 to the unidentified group (1.57%). The highest number of pollen of the arboreal taxa were in the following order: Pinaceae, Quercus sp., Cupressaceae/Taxodiaceae and Olea europaea. In the non-arboreal group the order was Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae, Poaceae, Xanthium strumarium and Plantago sp. Maximum pollen was recorded during the spring season and minimum during winter. During our study period the number of allergic patients who were treated in the hospital was 534. There was an apparent increase in the number of patients during May-June that decreased in July. However, in August the number went up again. Such an increase in patients probably is the result from an increase in the airborne content of pollen of Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae, Poaceae and Xanthium.