Substantial light woodland and open vegetation characterized the temperate forest biome before .

The extent of vegetation openness in past European landscapes is widely debated. In particular, the temperate forest biome has traditionally been defined as dense, closed-canopy forest; however, some argue that large herbivores maintained greater openness or even wood-pasture conditions. Here, we address this question for the Last Interglacial period (129,000-116,000 years ago), before -linked megafauna declines and anthropogenic landscape transformation.

A temporally and spatially explicit, data-driven estimation of airborne ragweed pollen concentrations across Europe.

Ongoing and future climate change driven expansion of aeroallergen-producing plant species comprise a major human health problem across Europe and elsewhere. There is an urgent need to produce accurate, temporally dynamic maps at the continental level, especially in the context of climate uncertainty. This study aimed to restore missing daily ragweed pollen data sets for Europe, to produce phenological maps of ragweed pollen, resulting in the most complete and detailed high-resolution ragweed pollen concentration maps to date.

Bioaerosols on the atmospheric super highway: An example of long distance transport of Alternaria spores from the Pannonian Plain to Poland.

Alternaria spores are pathogenic to agricultural crops, and the longest and the most severe sporulation seasons are predominantly recorded in rural areas, e.g. the Pannonian Plain (PP) in South-Central Europe.

The impact of data assimilation into the meteorological WRF model on birch pollen modelling.

We analyse the impact of ground-based data assimilation to the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) meteorological model on parameters relevant for birch pollen emission calculations. Then, we use two different emission databases (BASE - no data assimilation, OBSNUD - data assimilation for the meteorological model) in the chemical transport model and evaluate birch pollen concentrations. Finally, we apply a scaling factor for the emissions (BASE and OBSNUD), based on the ratio between simulated and observed seasonal pollen integral (SPIn) to analyse its impact on birch concentrations over Central Europe.

Prevalence of allergic rhinitis and asthma in Poland in relation to pollen counts.

Introduction: Despite the known role of pollen allergens in causing allergy symptoms in sensitized individuals, there are few publications investigating the relationship between pollen exposure in different regions and the prevalence of inhalant allergy.

Aim: To assess the association between the prevalence of allergic rhinitis and asthma and the degree of exposure to pollen in various regions of Poland.

Material And Methods: Completed questionnaires of 9,443 subjects living in four urban centres (Wroclaw, Katowice, Warsaw, Bialystok), collected within part of the ECAP project, were analyzed.

High Ambrosia pollen concentrations in Poland respecting the long distance transport (LDT).

High Ambrosia pollen concentrations in Poland rather rarely come from the local sources. The aim of this study was to define the temporal and spatial differences of the high Ambrosia pollen concentrations by creating models for the pollen transport from the distant sources. This study was thought to determine the direction of the air masses inflow into Poland, carrying Ambrosia pollen, from areas of the bordering countries with the pollen concentrations higher than iSTOTEN_n Poland.

Source regions of ragweed pollen arriving in south-western Poland and the influence of meteorological data on the HYSPLIT model results.

We have investigated the relationship between the inflow of air masses and the ragweed pollen concentration in SW Poland (Wrocław) for a 10-year period of 2005-2014. The HYSPLIT trajectory model was used to verify whether episodes of high concentrations can be related to regions outside of the main known ragweed centres in Europe, like Pannonian Plain, northern Italy and Ukraine. Furthermore, we used two different meteorological data sets (the global GDAS data set and from the WRF mesoscale model; the meteorological parameters were: U and V wind components, temperature and relative humidity) into HYSPLIT to evaluate the influence of meteorological input on calculated trajectories for high concentration ragweed episodes.

Co-occurrence of Artemisia and Ambrosia pollen seasons against the background of the synoptic situations in Poland.

The Asteraceae family is one of the largest families, comprising 67 genera and 264 species in Poland. However, only a few genera, including Artemisia and Ambrosia are potential allergenic sources. The aim of the study was to estimate how often and to what degree Artemisia and Ambrosia pollen seasons co-occur intensifying human health risk, and how synoptic situations influence frequency of days with high pollen concentrations of both taxa.

The dynamics of the Corylus, Alnus, and Betula pollen seasons in the context of climate change (SW Poland).

The changes in the main features of early spring tree or shrub pollen seasons are important due to the significant impact on the occurrence of pollen-related allergy symptoms. This study shows the results of pollen monitoring for a period of eleven years (2003-2013) using a Burkard volumetric spore trap. The main characteristics of the hazel, alder, and birch pollination season were studied in Wrocław (SW Poland).

Types of pollen season depending on the weather conditions in Wrocław (Poland), 2002-2011.

The aim of the study was to characterise pollen season types according to weather conditions in Wrocław (south-western Poland) in the years 2002-2011. Over the period analysed, the start date of the pollen season (determined by the 95 % method) ranged from 10 July 2002 to 28 July 2010. The start date of the pollen season can be determined by using Crop Heat Units (CHUs).

Carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses coupled with palynological data of PM10 in Wrocław city (SW Poland)--assessment of anthropogenic impact.

We have applied both palynological and carbon and nitrogen isotopic analyses of PM10 (particulate matter with a diameter of 10 μm or less) to trace its origin and to assess the anthropogenic impact for the area under study. The PM10 samples were collected in Wrocław (SW Poland) by the Regional Inspectorate for Environment Protection during the year 2007. The usefulness of the palynological observations in the case of PM10 is much lower than that for total suspended particles due to the resolution of absorbed particles, but is still helpful for distinguishing C(3)/C(4) plants that indicate long-distance transport of pollutants.