- The latest research has suggested that climate change has made pollen seasons worse than before.
- The study pointed out a link between pollen concentration and temperature due to which human health is being deteriorated.
- Plants have started making pollen earlier due to climate change.
- Climate change resulted in extended pollen season and 8% pollen concentration has been increased.
To know more about Climate Change, please read our article Climate change and its Causes and Effects.
Climate change might be responsible for the warmer surface of oceans and habitat loss. But the latest research has suggested that other unexpected impacts of climate change include worse pollen season.
Published research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has highlighted some facts. According to the study, allergy seasons have extended in duration over the last three decades. The seasons start almost 20 days before the time and last for 10 more days longer. Along with that plants are producing nearly 21%, more pollen.
An assistant professor of biology at the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, William Anderegg, has conducted the study and mentioned that anthropogenic activities were led to climate change that ultimately resulted in extended pollen seasons. The study pointed out a link between pollen concentration and temperature due to which human health in the United States is being deteriorated.
Also read: What is Climate Change Adaptation? – Importance and Methods
The gathered data included measurements from 1990 to 2018, which were collected from 60 pollen count stations present across Canada and United States. The U.S. National Allergy Bureau is supervising these stations.
Anderegg along with other researchers found increased changes in tree pollens across Texas and Midwestern U.S. The study highlighted that plants have started making pollen earlier due to climate change. This pattern was not observed in data from the year 1990. The warm climate has affected the internal timing of plants that make pollen before the start time. The collected data were also compared with many climate models.
The researchers concluded from their final findings that climate change resulted in extended pollen season and 8% pollen concentration has been increased.
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Anderegg gave a brief idea about the scientific tools which were utilized during research in order to find the role of climate change in bringing the change in pollen seasons. The technique of detection and attribution helped in isolating the impacts of climate change on plants for pollen production.
Some previous studies have also shown the connection between pollen and temperature but those studies were carried out on small scale. Anderegg said that climate change is happening and it is still a question of whether we are able to tackle its impacts.
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