Estudio aerobiológico en dos poblaciones de la Sierra de Gredos (Sistema Central, España)

Abstract

A study of the airborne pollen in two towns of Castilla y León (Béjar, Salamanca, and Arenas de San Pedro, Ávila), which are located on different slopes of the Sierra de Gredos in the Central Mountain Range of Spain, was conducted. The airborne pollen count was obtained using two Hirst-type volumetric spore traps from 2011 to 2016. Sampling, preparation and data interpretation were performed according to the Spanish Aerobiological Network’s (REA) methodology.The results show the annual pollen indexes are higher in the town of Béjar. In addition, being rural areas, the presence of pollen in the air is mainly conditioned by the natural vegetation of the environment. For this reason, the predominant pollen types are the same in both towns, especially Quercus, Castanea and Cupressaceae in Béjar, and Quercus, Poaceae and Olea in Arenas de San Pedro. The peak data of pollen concentration shows di erences by pollen type, town and year; high levels of Castanea, Poaceae and Quercus pollen types have been recorded in both towns for over 20 days per year and of Alnus, Fraxinus and Urticaceae in Béjar.Statistical analysis of the Spearman correlation index shows that there is an evident, signi cant correlation between the two sampling stations. In addition, the Wilkoson test has revealed significant differences between both stations for all pollen types except Cupressaceae and Quercus.