Károly Bodnár

The first record of subtropical insects (Thysanoptera) in central Europe: long‐distance transport of airborne thrips, applying three‐dimensional backward trajectories

The present study reports the first occurrence and flight period of three species, namely Scolothrips tenuipennis zur Strassen 1965, Frankliniella schultzei Trybom, 1910 and Zurstrassenia figuratus zur Strassen, 1968 (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), in Hungary. A fourth, undescribed species belonging to the genus Caliothrips was also captured. The distribution area of these species is North Africa and it is hypothesized that they are transported to Hungary via long‐distance air currents. Data for a suction trap are examined in South–East Hungary, in the 3‐year period 2002–2004 from May to September. A three‐dimensional back‐trajectory analysis based on the Hybrid Single‐Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) transport and dispersion model was performed for the observation days to determine the origin and path of air masses and evaluate of the possibility of long‐distance transport of thrips species. Surprisingly, the analysis showed that only a few percent of the back trajectories originated or passed over North Africa. The results suggest that the captured thrips species could survive long‐distance transport at low‐level trajectories and establish new populations in Western Europe, the eastern part of Europe and Northern Central Europe, which together serve as source areas for the long‐range transport of thrips to the target station.

Risk Factors for Asthma Hospitalization among Adults and Elderly

Joint effect of biological (pollen) and chemical air pollutants on asthma emergency room (ER) visits was analyzed for Szeged region of Southern Hungary. Our database of a nine-year period (1999-2007) includes daily number of asthma emergency room (ER) visits, and daily mean concentrations of CO, PM 10 , NO, NO 2 , O 3 and SO 2 , furthermore two pollen variables (Ambrosia and total pollen excluding Ambrosia), as well. The analysis was performed for ER visits of asthma bronchiale using two age groups (adults and the elderly) of males and females for three seasons. Factor analysis was performed in order to clarify the relative importance of the pollutant variables affecting asthma ER visits. Asthma ER visits denote notably stronger associations with the pollutants in adult male than in adult female patients both for the pollen season of Ambrosia and the pollen-free season. Furthermore, adults are substantially more sensitive to severe asthma attack than the elderly for the season of total pollen excluding Ambrosia pollen. The joint effect of the chemical and pollen variables is the highest for the asthma ER cases in the pollen season of Ambrosia, basically due to the extra impact of the total pollen excluding Ambrosia pollen and partly due to Ambrosia pollen. A nonparametric regression technique was applied to discriminate between events of ER visit – no ER visit using pollen and chemical pollutants as explaining variables. Based on multiple correlations, the strongest relationships between ER visits and pollutants are observed during the pollen-free season. The elderly group with asthma bronchiale is characterized by weaker relationships between ER visits and pollutants compared to adults. Ratio of the number of correct decisions on the events of ER visit – no ER visit is lowest for the season of total pollen excluding Ambrosia pollen. Otherwise, similar conclusions hold as those received by multiple correlations.