Comparison of airborne Cupressaceae, Quercus and Poaceae pollen between Tulsa (Oklahoma) and Córdoba (Spain)

Figures & data

Figure 1. MPS average for the years 2010‒2014. A. Cupressaceae in Córdoba. B. Cupressaceae in Tulsa. C. Quercus in Córdoba. D. Quercus in Tulsa. E. Poaceae in Córdoba. F. Poaceae in Tulsa. Note: The average peaks (day and values) in the text boxes were calculated from the peaks for each year and do not correspond to the scale on the X and Y axes.

Table I. Pre-peak and post-peak periods of pollen concentration for years 2010‒2014.

	Area	Pre-peak			Post-peak			Peak	SPIn
		N	PSS	PSE	N	PSS	PSE
Cupressaceae	Córdoba	138	294	66	35	68	103	623	12108
		10	50	60	27	61	89	900	5325
		34	28	62	13	64	77	488	3612
		50	08	58	27	60	87	586	6928
	Tulsa	14	50	64	28	66	94	1900	7347
		4	46	50	51	52	103	1564	5787
		21	30	53	15	55	72	2331	8508
		27	35	62	27	64	92	1935	7746
		22	46	68	32	70	103	2689	15085
Quercus	Córdoba	37	78	115	35	117	152	1032	9704
		23	76	99	56	101	157	2635	17080
		14	86	99	83	101	185	1029	16644
		13	91	104	31	106	137	469	5334
		25	74	99	90	101	191	2814	28073
	Tulsa	12	82	94	24	96	120	4673	27114
		21	77	98	13	100	113	2230	16490
		5	72	76	21	78	99	1569	12767
		12	86	98	23	100	123	1139	7679
		12	89	101	19	103	122	2942	13914
Poaceae	Córdoba	58	83	141	66	143	209	510	7747
		78	56	134	118	136	254	277	5882
		84	65	148	43	150	194	202	3278
		29	95	124	57	126	185	1158	6771
		53	78	131	95	133	228	1180	9683
	Tulsa	51	91	142	147	144	291	114	2760
		69	91	160	129	162	291	58	2173
		60	75	134	133	136	270	119	3494
		50	96	146	121	148	269	127	3313
		39	99	138	142	140	282	93	2959

Abbreviations: N, number of days; PSS, pollen season start; PSE, pollen season end; Peak, pollen peak in pollen grains/m³; SPIn, season pollen index.

All the dates are counted from 1 January (DOY – day of the year).

Figure 2. Average meteorological parameters during the study period. A. Mean monthly temperature. B. Mean monthly relative humidity. C. Mean monthly rainfall.

Table II. Pearson correlations coefficient between Cupressaceae pollen and meteorological parameters in the same days (first line) and the previous day's meteorological parameters (second line).

	Tmax			Tmean			Tmin
	PRP	POP	MPS	PRP	POP	MPS	PRP	POP	MPS
Córdoba	0.194**	−0.091	0.168**	−0.105	−0.266**	−0.035	−0.292**	−0.244*	−0.208**
	0.207**	−0.035	0.170**	−0.115	−0.286**	−0.071	−0.300**	−0.344**	−0.253**
Tulsa	0.648**	0.252**	0.481**	0.582**	0.184*	0.430**	0.379**	0.072	0.307**
	0.601**	0.147	0.387**	0.491**	0.088	0.313**	0.249*	−0.004	0.179**
	Relative humidity			Rain			Wind speed
	PRP	POP	MPS	PRP	POP	MPS	PRP	POP	MPS
Córdoba	−0.331**	−0.091	−0.285**	−0.265**	−0.049	−0.245**	−0.079	0.044	−0.032
	−0.266**	−0.043	−0.222**	−0.219**	−0.078	−0.209**	−0.160*	−0.102	−0.133*
Tulsa	−0.299**	−0.257**	−0.306**	−0.023	0.074	0.008	−0.074	−0.031	0.088
	−0.430**	−0.279**	−0.365**	−0.262*	−0.103	−0.184**	−0.052	0.004	0.039

Abbreviations: PRP, pre-peak; POP, post-peak; MPS, main pollen season.

*Significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed); ** significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).

Table III. Pearson correlations coefficient between Quercus pollen and meteorological parameters in the same days (first line) and the previous day's meteorological parameters (second line).

	Tmax			Tmean			Tmin
	PRP	POP	MPS	PRP	POP	MPS	PRP	POP	MPS
Córdoba	0.303**	−0.126*	−0.077	0.399**	−0.250**	−0.163**	0.249**	−0.431**	−0.278**
	0.329**	−0.162**	−0.134**	0.399**	−0.278**	−0.220**	0.260**	−0.446**	−0.315**
Tulsa	0.691**	0.311**	0.513**	0.696**	0.217*	0.486**	0.567**	0.062	0.362**
	0.586**	0.201*	0.400**	0.540**	0.084	0.339**	0.383**	−0.069	0.206**
	Relative humidity			Rain			Wind speed
	PRP	POP	MPS	PRP	POP	MPS	PRP	POP	MPS
Córdoba	−0.103	−0.039	−0.009	−0.078	−0.181**	−0.161**	0.030	−0.127*	−0.096*
	0.022	0.018	0.085	−0.055	0.131*	−0.115*	−0.104	−0.224**	−0.205**
Tulsa	−0.283*	0.031	−0.259**	−0.192	0.006	−0.052	0.366**	−0.210*	0.253**
	−0.382**	0.090	−0.284**	−0.146	−0.050	−0.087	0.321**	−0.203*	0.161*

Abbreviations: PRP, pre-peak; POP, post-peak; MPS, main pollen season.

*Significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed); ** significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).

Table IV. Pearson correlation coefficient between Poaceae pollen and meteorological parameters in the same days (first line) and the previous day's meteorological parameters (second line).

	Tmax			Tmean			Tmin
	PRP	POP	MPS	PRP	POP	MPS	PRP	POP	MPS
Córdoba	0.550**	−0.431**	0.124**	0.615**	−0.482**	0.113**	0.466**	−0.498**	0.055
	0.547**	−0.439**	0.102**	0.615**	−0.501*	0.087*	0.472**	−0.517**	0.033
Tulsa	0.598**	−0.073	0.056	0.580**	−0.031	0.071*	0.475**	0.015	0.080*
	0.471**	−0.072	0.010	0.442**	−0.031	0.021	0.349**	0.008	0.027
	Relative humidity			Rain			Wind speed
	PRP	POP	MPS	PRP	POP	MPS	PRP	POP	MPS
Córdoba	−0.324**	0.239**	−0.104**	−0.088	−0.064	−0.090*	−0.076	−0.079*	−0.079*
	−0.275**	0.270*	−0.055	−0.087	−0.054	−0.082*	−0.135*	−0.138**	−0.132**
Tulsa	−0.159**	0.132**	0.049	−0.161**	−0.072	−0.100**	0.196**	0.165**	0.206**
	−0.093	0.164**	0.092**	−0.228**	−0.018	−0.085**	0.028	0.121**	0.124**

Abbreviations: PRP, pre-peak; POP, post-peak; MPS, main pollen season.

*Significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed); ** significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).

Table V. Multiple regression models for the Cupressaceae pollen concentration with the same day (first line) and the previous day (second line). For model validation, the predicted and observed concentrations were analyzed with Pearson correlation.

	Model			Model validation
Site	Equations	R^2	P	R	P
PRP
Córdoba	y = 2.967 − 0.049Tmin − 0.018RH	0.142	0.003	−0.110	0.914
	y = 2.616 − 0.06Tmin − 0.013RH	0.342	0.000	−0.179	0.044
Tulsa	y = 0.156 + 0.087Tmax	0.460	0.000	0.603	0.000
	y = 1.427 + 0.078Tmax − 0.017RH	0.424	0.000	0.477	0.000
POP
Córdoba	y = 1.906 − 0.061Tmin	0.118	0.000	−0.311	0.140
	y = 1.906 − 0.061Tmin	0.118	0.000	−0.220	0.225
Tulsa	y = 2.549 − 0.016RH + 0.029Rain	0.103	0.001	−0.056	0.407
	y = 2.375 − 0.013RH	0.078	0.000	−0.093	0.349
MPS
Córdoba	y = 2.510-0.031Tmin − 0.012RH − 0.012Rain	0.120	0.027	0.026	0.794
	y = 2.445 − 0.05Tmin − 0.010RH	0.097	0.000	0.278	0.004
Tulsa	y = 2.108 + 0.05Tmax − 0.007RH	0.242	0.000	0.584	0.000
	y = 1.783 + 0.033Tmax − 0.014RH	0.197	0.000	0.427	0.000

Abbreviations: PRP, pre-peak; POP, post-peak; MPS, main pollen season; Tmin, minimum temperature; Tmax, maximum temperature; RH, relative humidity.

Table VI. Multiple regression models for the Quercus pollen concentration with the same day (first line) and the previous day (second line). For model validation, the predicted and observed concentrations were analysed with Pearson correlation.

	Model			Model validation
Site	Equations	R^2	P	R	P
PRP
Córdoba	y = 0.973 + 0.045Tmax	0.092	0.001	0.977	0.004
	y = 0.912 + 0.051Tmax	0.108	0.000	0.993	0.001
Tulsa	y = 0.220 + 0.082Tmax	0.477	0.000	0.312	0.175
	y = 0.518 + 0.075Tmax	0.343	0.000	0.319	0.169
POP
Córdoba	y = 2.943 − 0.085Tmin − 0.026Rain	0.233	0.000	0.476	0.000
	y = 3.186 − 0.084Tmin − 0.157WS − 0.017Rain	0.257	0.000	0.545	0.000
Tulsa	y = 1.375 + 0.038Tmax − 0.003WS	0.147	0.000	−0.243	0.121
	y = 1.544 + 0.025Tmax − 0.003WS	0.086	0.037	−0.255	0.110
MPS
Córdoba	y = 2.442 − 0.047Tmin − 0.022Rain	0.106	0.000	0.444	0.000
	y = 2.729 − 0.050Tmin − 0.146WS − 0.013Rain	0.139	0.000	0.566	0.000
Tulsa	y = 0.736 + 0.063Tmax	0.264	0.000	0.136	0.211
	y = 0.999 + 0.050Tmax	0.160	0.000	0.077	0.326

Abbreviations: PRP, pre-peak; POP, post-peak; MPS, main pollen season; Tmin, minimum temperature; Tmax, maximum temperature; WS, wind speed.

Table VII. Multiple regression models for the Poaceae pollen concentration with the same day (first line) and the previous day (second line). For model validation, the predicted and observed concentrations were analyzed with Pearson correlation.

	Model			Model validation
Site	Equations	R^2	P	R	P
PRP
Córdoba	y = −0.593 + 0.074Tmax	0.302	0.000	0.513	0.000
	y = −0.625 + 0.077Tmax	0.299	0.000	0.499	0.000
Tulsa	y = −0.238 + 0.053Tmax	0.358	0.000	0.301	0.129
	y = 0.112 + 0.041Tmax − 0.007Rain	0.239	0.000	0.077	0.389
POP
Córdoba	y = 2.585 − 0.082Tmin	0.248	0.000	0.598	0.000
	y = 2.344 − 0.073Tmin + 0.006RH − 0.127WS	0.293	0.000	0.616	0.000
Tulsa	y = 0.511 + 0.005RH + 0.042WS	0.053	0.000	−0.047	0.287
	y = 0.480 + 0.006RH + 0.033WS	0.049	0.000	−0.034	0.344
MPS
Córdoba	y = 0.873 + 0.012Tmax	0.015	0.001	0.356	0.000
	y = 1.181 + 0.008Tmax − 0.112WS	0.024	0.000	−0.166	0.041
Tulsa	y = 0.860 + 0.043WS − 0.004Rain	0.223	0.000	0.309	0.000
	y = 0.571 + 0.005RH + 0.029WS − 0.007Rain	0.043	0.000	−0.014	0.432

Abbreviations: PRP, pre-peak; POP, post-peak; MPS, main pollen season; Tmin, minimum temperature; Tmax, maximum temperature; RH, relative humidity; WS, wind speed.

Figure 3. Comparison between measured and predicted pollen during the pre-peak period in Córdoba. A. Cupressaceae same day. B. Cupressaceae next day. C. Quercus same day. D. Quercus next day. E. Poaceae same day. F. Poaceae next day.

Figure 4. Comparison between measured and predicted pollen during the pre-peak period in Tulsa. A. Cupressaceae same day. B. Cupressaceae next day. C. Quercus same day. D. Quercus next day. E. Poaceae same day. F. Poaceae next day. *The maximum temperatures were close to 0 °C or even lower; hence the three points were negative.