Last data update: Jun 03, 2024. (Total: 46935 publications since 2009)
Records 1-4 (of 4 Records) |
Query Trace: Brown CL [original query] |
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Volunteer-contributed observations of flowering often correlate with airborne pollen concentrations
Crimmins TM , Vogt E , Brown CL , Dalan D , Manangan A , Robinson G , Song Y , Zhu K , Katz DSW . Int J Biometeorol 2023 67 (8) 1363-1372 Characterizing airborne pollen concentrations is crucial for supporting allergy and asthma management; however, pollen monitoring is labor intensive and, in the USA, geographically limited. The USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) engages thousands of volunteer observers in regularly documenting the developmental and reproductive status of plants. The reports of flower and pollen cone status contributed to the USA-NPN's platform, Nature's Notebook, have the potential to help address gaps in pollen monitoring by providing real-time, spatially explicit information from across the country. In this study, we assessed whether observations of flower and pollen cone status contributed to Nature's Notebook can serve as effective proxies for airborne pollen concentrations. We compared daily pollen concentrations from 36 National Allergy Bureau (NAB) stations in the USA with flowering and pollen cone status observations collected within 200 km of each NAB station in each year, 2009-2021, for 15 common tree taxa using Spearman's correlations. Of 350 comparisons, 58% of correlations were significant (p < 0.05). Comparisons could be made at the largest numbers of sites for Acer and Quercus. Quercus demonstrated a comparatively high proportion of tests with significant agreement (median ρ = 0.49). Juglans demonstrated the strongest overall coherence between the two datasets (median ρ = 0.79), though comparisons were made at only a small number of sites. For particular taxa, volunteer-contributed flowering status observations demonstrate promise to indicate seasonal patterns in airborne pollen concentrations. The quantity of observations, and therefore, their utility for supporting pollen alerts, could be substantially increased through a formal observation campaign. |
Observations from the USA National Phenology Network can be leveraged to model airborne pollen
Katz DSW , Vogt E , Manangan A , Brown CL , Dalan D , Zhu K , Song Y , Crimmins TM . Aerobiologia (Bologna) 2022 The USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) hosts the largest volunteer-contributed collection of plant phenology observations in the USA. The potential contributions of these spatially and temporally explicit observations of flowers and pollen cones to the field of aerobiology remain largely unexplored. Here, we introduce this freely available dataset and demonstrate its prospective applications for modeling airborne pollen in a case study. Specifically, we compare the timing of 4265 observations of flowering for oak (Quercus) trees in the eastern USA to winter–spring temperatures. We then use this relationship to predict the day of peak flowering at 15 pollen monitoring stations in 15 years and compare the predicted day of peak flowering to the peak day of measured pollen (n = 111 station-years). There was a strong association between winter–spring temperature and the presence of open flowers (r2 = 0.66, p < 0.0001) and the predicted peak flowering was strongly correlated with peak airborne pollen concentrations (r2 = 0.81, p < 0.0001). These results demonstrate the potential for the USA-NPN’s phenological observations to underpin source-based models of airborne pollen. We also highlight opportunities for leveraging and enhancing this near real-time dataset for aerobiological applications. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. |
A systematic review of the effects of temperature and precipitation on pollen concentrations and season timing, and implications for human health
Schramm PJ , Brown CL , Saha S , Conlon KC , Manangan AP , Bell JE , Hess JJ . Int J Biometeorol 2021 65 (10) 1615-1628 Climate and weather directly impact plant phenology, affecting airborne pollen. The objective of this systematic review is to examine the impacts of meteorological variables on airborne pollen concentrations and pollen season timing. Using PRISMA methodology, we reviewed literature that assessed whether there was a relationship between local temperature and precipitation and measured airborne pollen. The search strategy included terms related to pollen, trends or measurements, and season timing. For inclusion, studies must have conducted a correlation analysis of at least 5 years of airborne pollen data to local meteorological data and report quantitative results. Data from peer-reviewed articles were extracted on the correlations between seven pollen indicators (main pollen season start date, end date, peak date, and length, annual pollen integral, average daily pollen concentration, and peak pollen concentration), and two meteorological variables (temperature and precipitation). Ninety-three articles were included in the analysis out of 9,679 articles screened. Overall, warmer temperatures correlated with earlier and longer pollen seasons and higher pollen concentrations. Precipitation had varying effects on pollen concentration and pollen season timing indicators. Increased precipitation may have a short-term effect causing low pollen concentrations potentially due to "wash out" effect. Long-term effects of precipitation varied for trees and weeds and had a positive correlation with grass pollen levels. With increases in temperature due to climate change, pollen seasons for some taxa in some regions may start earlier, last longer, and be more intense, which may be associated with adverse health impacts, as pollen exposure has well-known health effects in sensitized individuals. |
Changes in extreme events and the potential impacts on human health
Bell JE , Brown CL , Conlon K , Herring S , Kunkel KE , Lawrimore J , Luber G , Schreck C , Smith A , Uejio C . J Air Waste Manag Assoc 2017 68 (4) 265-287 Extreme weather and climate-related events affect human health by causing death, injury, and illness, as well as having large socioeconomic impacts. Climate change has caused changes in extreme event frequency, intensity and geographic distribution, and will continue to be a driver for change in the future. Some of these events include heat waves, droughts, wildfires, dust storms, flooding rains, coastal flooding, storm surge, and hurricanes. The pathways connecting extreme events to health outcomes and economic losses can be diverse and complex. The difficulty in predicting these relationships comes from the local societal and environmental factors that affect disease burden. More information is needed about the impacts of climate change on public health and economies to effectively plan for and adapt to climate change. This article describes some of the ways extreme events are changing and provides examples of the potential impacts on human health and infrastructure. It also identifies key research gaps to be addressed to improve the resilience of public health to extreme events in the future. IMPLICATIONS: Extreme weather and climate events affect human health by causing death, injury, and illness, as well as having large socio-economic impacts. Climate change has caused changes in extreme event frequency, intensity and geographic distribution, and will continue to be a driver for change in the future. Some of these events include heat waves, droughts, wildfires, flooding rains, coastal flooding, storm surge, and hurricanes. The pathways connecting extreme events to health outcomes and economic losses can be diverse and complex. The difficulty in predicting these relationships comes from the local societal and environmental factors that affect disease burden. |
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