The aeropalynology of Es-Sénia airport, Oran, northwest Algeria

Abstract

A continuous study of atmospheric pollen in Oran Province, northwest Algeria, using the Cour method was undertaken between April 2004 and April 2006. A pollen-collecting device was placed in the meteorological station at Es-Sénia airport, near Oran city. It was found that the pollen harvest during the first year was 4230 grains, which is significantly higher than that in the second year which produced 2258 grains. These data gave a mean annual index of 3246 pollen grains, 99.7% of which were positively identified. Pollen from herbaceous plants (69.5%) proved significantly more abundant than arboreal and shrub pollen (27.9 and 2.3% respectively). The pollen types identified, in decreasing order of abundance, were Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae, Plantago, Olea, wild Poaceae, Lygeum, Cupressaceae, Urticaceae, Quercus, Pinus, total Asteraceae, Eucalyptus, Brassicaceae, Casuarina, Pistacia, Arecaceae, Apiaceae, Thymeleaceae and Rumex. The abundance range was Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae (41.4%) to Rumex (0.6%). The winter pollen spectrum largely comprised Arecaceae and Cupressaceae. Pollination during spring included most taxa, i.e. total Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae, Lygeum, Olea, Pinus, Pistacia, Plantago, wild Poaceae, Quercus, Rumex and Urticaceae. During the summer Apiaceae and Eucalyptus both pollinated, and Casuarina pollen was largely produced in autumn. A significant correspondence between the airborne pollen spectrum and the vegetation of the region was established.

Keywords:

• aeropalynology
• Cour method
• pollen calendar
• Oran Province
• northwest Algeria

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Algerian Ministry of Planning and Environment for funding this research. James B. Riding publishes with the approval of the Executive Director, British Geological Survey (NERC).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ghania Kiared (Ould-Amara)

GHANIA KIARED (OULD-AMARA) is a Teacher-Researcher and Course Manager at the Pharmacognosy Laboratory, Department of Pharmacy, University of Algiers. Algeria. She was appointed as a State Engineer in Agronomy (Botany) at the National Agronomic Institute of El Harrach in Algiers in 1985. Between 1990 and 2002, Ghania was made Head of Practical Teaching at the Pharmacognosy Laboratory, where she trained pharmacists in histology and palynology. Subsequently, in 2002–2006, she was a head of a research project in biotechnology at the Algerian Ministry of Physical Planning and Environment. During 2015, Ghania was awarded a State Doctorate in Agronomic Sciences at the High National School of Agronomy, El Harrach. Algiers in palynology (aerobiology).

Mostefa Bessedik

MOSTEFA BESSEDIK is Professor of Palaeontology and Stratigraphy at Oran 2 University, Es-Sénia Algeria. He holds a doctoral degrees from the University of Monpellier, France. Mostefa was the first to discover mangrove environments of Miocene age in the west Mediterranean area during the 1980s. He researched evolutionary trends in the genus Buxus (box/boxwood) throughout southwestern Europe since the Eocene and the associated biogeographical implications in the Americas, Africa and Eurasia at this time. Also during the 1980s, Mostefa applied modern models to reconstruct the Miocene climate and vegetation in the Mediterranean area. More recently he has worked on the systematics of dinosaur footprints in the Algerian Atlas.

James B. Riding

JAMES B. RIDING is a palynologist with the British Geological Survey (BGS), based in Nottingham, UK, and specialising on the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. After studying geology at the University of Leicester, he persued an interest in palynology which developed as an undergraduate. This started with the famous MSc course in palynology at the University of Sheffield directed by Roger Neves and the late Charles Downie. He left Sheffield for BGS, which was then known as the Institute of Geological Sciences, joining the Palaeontological Department run by the legendary Carboniferous palaeontologist and geologist W.H.C. (Bill) Ramsbottom in the Northern England office, based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Here, he worked closely with Ron Woollam on the Mesozoic palynology of onshore and offshore UK; much of the work in those days was on the North Sea. The Leeds office was closed, and Jim and colleagues relocated to the BGS headquarters at Keyworth, immediately south of Nottingham. He was awarded a PhD by the University of Sheffield for a thesis on the Jurassic dinoflagellate cyst floras of northern and eastern England. His current palynological interests are wide-ranging and include the Mesozoic-Cenozoic palynology of the world (especially Europe, Australasia, Antarctica, west Africa, the Americas, Russia and the Middle East), paleoenvironmental palynology, palynomorph floral provinces, forensic palynology, preparation techniques, the history of palynology and the morphology, systematics and taxonomy of dinoflagellate cysts. The British Antarctic Survey, a sister organisation to BGS, have used Jim as a consultant palynologist for many years, and he visited the Antarctic Peninsula for fieldwork during the Austral Summers of 1989 and 2006. The most recent field season was spent on Seymour Island. The European Union has recently funded two collaborative projects involving Jim on research into the Jurassic palynology of Russia and southern Europe. Jim undertook a one-year secondment in 1999–2000 to the Australian Geological Survey Organisation (now Geoscience Australia), Canberra, Australia where he worked on the taxonomy of Australian Jurassic dinoflagellate cysts with Robin Helby and Clinton Foster. The work emanating from this was published in 2001 as Memoir 24 of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists. Jim was awarded a DSc by the University of Leicester in 2003. He served as a Director-at-Large of AASP between 1999 and 2001, was President in 2003, and became Managing Editor in 2004. He has previously served as Secretary and Treasurer of The Micropalaeontological Society (TMS). Jim is currently the Secretary-Treasurer of the International Federation of Palynological Societies (IFPS).