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Atmospheric invasion of non-native pollen in the Mediterranean region¹

²Unitat de Botànica, Departament de Biologia Animal, Biologia Vegetal i Ecologia, Edifici C, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; ³Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals, (CREAF), Edifici C, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Most research on the impacts of plant invasion focuses on native plant performance, community structure, and ecosystem functioning. Some non-native species can also pose a risk to human health. One such risk is the allergenic nature of the pollen of some introduced plants. We examined whether patterns of airborne pollen differed between non-native and native taxa by summarizing data from seven Spanish Mediterranean localities monitored over 13 yr. The pollen spectra contained 27 native pollen taxa and 18 non-native taxa. Even though pollen from native taxa were more diverse and were present longer in the atmosphere than the non-native, in some years neither the prevalence of the two nor their weekly maximum pollen values differed significantly. However, maximum values for non-native taxa were found earlier in the season than for native pollen. A small percentage of non-native pollen includes pollen from introduced taxa that have not invaded natural habitats (e.g., ornamental plants). Non-native pollen has a larger proportion of allergenic pollen than native pollen. Therefore, the results reveal that the presence of non-native airborne pollen from naturalized and non-naturalized plant species increases the total amount of airborne allergenic pollen grains and the period of allergenic susceptibility.

Key Words: aerobiology • alien plants • allergenic pollen • Catalonia • phenology • plant invasions • pollen diversity