David Rodríguez de la Cruz

Aerobiological study of Fagaceae pollen in the middle-west of Spain

The concentration of airborne Fagaceae pollen in Salamanca and the correlations with some meteorological parameters have been examined. Castanea and Quercus pollen grains were collected from 1998 to 2004 using a Burkard spore trap. No pollen grains of Fagus were found. The main pollen season took place in April and May for Quercus and in June and July for Castanea. Yearly variations on these dates could be related to the influence of meteorological factors such as rainfall, temperature, or dominant winds. The highest values appeared in the year 2004 for both taxa. The Fagaceae airborne content was mainly due to Quercus pollen, Castanea having a scarce pollen content in the city of Salamanca. The highest counts of Fagaceae pollen grains were found from mid May to early June due to the pollen behavior of oaks. The cumulative counts varied over the years, with a mean value of 2,384 pollen grains, a highest total of 6,036 in 2004 and a lowest total of 954 in 2001. No cyclic variations were observed. Daily pollen concentrations presented positive correlation with temperature, negative with relative humidity and slightly negative with rainfall using Spearmans correlation coefficients, only in the case of Castanea, because the particular hourly distribution of rainfall during the spring might affect Quercus airborne pollen.

Assessing allergenicity in urban parks: A nature-based solution to reduce the impact on public health

&NA; Urban parks play a key role in the provision of ecosystem services, actively participating in improving the quality of life and welfare of local residents. This paper reports on the application of an index designed to quantify the allergenicity of urban parks in a number of Spanish cities. The index, which records biological and biometric parameters for the tree species growing there, classifies parks in terms of the risk they pose for allergy sufferers, graded as null, low, moderate or high. In this initial phase, the index was applied to 26 green areas in 24 Spanish cities; green areas varied in type (urban park, historical or modern garden, boulevard, square or urban forest), size 1–100 ha), geographical location, species richness, number of trees and tree density (number of trees / ha.). The data obtained were used to calculate the percentage of allergenic species in each park, which varied between 17–67%; density ranged from 100 to 300 trees/ha. The index values recorded ranged from a minimum of .07 to a maximum of .87; a significant correlation was found between index value and both number of trees and tree density. Taking an index value of .30 as the threshold considered sufficient to trigger allergy symptoms in the sensitive population, 12 of the parks studied may be regarded as unhealthy at any time of the year. Corrective measures to mitigate the impact of pollen emissions include the implementation of nature‐based solutions at various levels: planning and design, handling and management, and strengthening of urban green‐infrastructure elements. The index proved to be a useful tool for environmental analysis, and complies with the principles of portability and scalability central to current and horizon scientific research. HighlightsPotential Allergenicity of Spanish Urban Parks was estimated.The value of allergenicity is dependent on density and number of tree species.The Index of Allergenicity is a useful tool of planning and management green spaces.Nature‐Based Solutions allow reducing the impact of allergens on Public Health.

Harvesting canthinones: identification of the optimal seasonal point of harvest of Zanthoxylum chiloperone leaves as a source of 5-methoxycanthin-6-one

This article is focused on the seasonal variation in the contents of 5-methoxycanthin-6-one from the leaves of Zanthoxylum chiloperone (Rutaceae). Based on the pharmacological interest presented by 5-methoxycanthin-6-one, its seasonal variation in Z. chiloperone leaves was analysed in order to determine the best time for harvesting, optimising the 5-methoxycanthin-6-one content. The seasonal dynamics of canthinone alkaloids can be the key to improve the isolation from natural sustainable sources, such as leaves. Complementarily, this study describes the phytochemistry of leaf from this Ruraceae species.

First fungal spore calendar of the middle-west of the Iberian Peninsula

The aim of this paper was to make a first approximation of the fungal spore airborne content in Valladolid along the year, constructing the first spore calendar for the middle-west of Spain. So that, we monitored the city during 2005 and 2006, being Cladosporium the most abundant type, present all over the year (together with Pleospora). The greatest atmospheric spore diversity was observed in April in contrast with February. The intra-diurnal pattern for Alternaria, Cladosporium and Dreschlera was very similar with an hourly concentration percentage decreasing along two periods, whereas Coprinus, Ganoderma and Periconia showed a clearly nocturnal pattern. The meteorological parameter that most influenced airborne spore concentrations was temperature, significantly and positively in the case of dry-air spores but negatively for wet-air spores.

Aerobiology of Pteridophyta Spores: Preliminary Results and Applications

Pteridophyte airborne spores are scarcely represented worldwide compared to fungal spores or even to pollen grains. However, the levels of fern spores in the atmosphere are connected to the distribution and abundance of different Pteridophyta species, being tropical and subtropical zones of Asia, America and Africa, the areas where fern spores are most abundant. Their seasonal distribution includes all the months in tropical zones, according to the continuous sporing process that usually occurs because of the sequential development of sporangia in the different fern species. In temperate areas, the presence of airborne spores is located in late Summer and early Autumn. In addition, there are few studies reporting information about hourly distribution of fern spores in the atmosphere, in which bracken spores were mainly observed at midday when spore traps are located near to fern formations. Airborne spore concentrations are also higher in near zones of fern populations and lower when spore traps move away of these zones, being registered processes of transport.

New Insights on Atmospheric Fern Spore Dynamics

Pteridophyte airborne spores are scarcely represented worldwide compared to fungal spores or even to pollen grains. Through different studies, 81 taxa were identified in the atmosphere from different sampling points around the world with greater number of taxa in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, America and Africa, the areas where pteridophytes have the greatest estimated diversity. Higher annual levels and higher daily concentrations were also found in these tropical and subtropical areas. Seasonal distribution of spores varied depending on the sampling site, with the highest levels in temperate areas occurring between late spring and early autumn, while in tropical and subtropical areas they were distributed throughout the year. Hourly spore concentrations were located in the central hours of the day. Airborne fern and lycopod spores generally appeared to be positively influenced by temperature and sunshine hours and negatively by rainfall, relative humidity and wind speed. The study of aerovagant spores has direct application in medicine, as a consequence of the allergenicity of some spore types, mainly in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia and in forensic palynology and criminology helping to the resolution of certain police cases.