Medium-Term Increases in Ambient Grass Pollen Between 1994-1999 and 2016-2020 in a Subtropical Climate Zone.

Grass pollen is the major outdoor trigger of allergic respiratory diseases. Climate change is influencing pollen seasonality in Northern Hemisphere temperate regions, but many aspects of the effects on grass pollen remain unclear. Carbon dioxide and temperature rises could increase the distribution of subtropical grasses, however, medium term shifts in grass pollen in subtropical climates have not yet been analysed. This study investigates changes in grass pollen aerobiology in a subtropical city of Brisbane, Australia, between the two available monitoring periods, 1994-1999 and 2016-2020. Potential drivers of pollen change were examined including weather and satellite-derived vegetation indicators. The magnitude of the seasonal pollen index for grass showed almost a three-fold increase for 2016-2020 over 1994-1999. The number and proportion of high and extreme grass pollen days in the recent period increased compared to earlier monitoring. Statistically significant changes were also identified for distributions of CO

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Copyright © 2021 Addison-Smith, Milic, Dwarakanath, Simunovic, Van Haeften, Timbrell and Davies.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

JD reports financial co-contribution from Stallergenes Greer Australia Pty Ltd., as well as in kind non-financial support from Stallergenes Greer Australia Pty Ltd. during the conduct of the study. JD reports grants from Abionic SA outside the submitted work. In addition, JD reports QUT has patents broadly relevant US PTO 14/311944 and AU2008/316301 issued. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.