Aerobiology of Castanea pollen in Galicia

The concentration of airborne chestnut pollenhas been investigated at four monitoringstations situated in several cities in Galicia(NW Spain) during 1995–1998. Their pollenseason takes place from mid June to thebeginning of August. The annual total chestnutpollen shows differences between years in eachcity. Likewise there are significantdifferences between cities in each year.The pollen concentrations were closelycorrelated with meteorological parameters. Theyincreased with maximum temperatures and hoursof sunshine and they decreased with rainfalland relative humidity.The diurnal variations of pollen concentrationsshow different patterns in urban and ruralareas. Where the spore trap is surrounded byarboreal masses with chestnut as the dominanttree, the pattern shows two peaks, one in theevening (between seven and mid-night) andanother in the morning (between four and one inthe afternoon).