Blog
Ah! 5 vital readings for the pollen season
Aug
As spring approaches in North America, trees, shrubs and flowers release their flower pollen. This fine, powdery substance is produced by the male structures of cone and flowering plants. When it is transferred to the female structures of plants by wind, water, or pollinators, fertilization occurs.
As pollen travels, it can also cause allergies. about 25 million Americans. Exposure to pollen can cause sneezing, coughing, itchy eyes, a runny nose, and a postnasal drip—unwelcome signs of spring for sufferers. This collection of articles from our archives describes the latest findings on protecting pollinators and coping with pollen season.
1. Hey pollinator, over here
Because pollen grains carry the cells that fertilize plants, it’s crucial that they get where they need to go. Often, wind or gravity will do the trick, but for many plants, a pollinator must transport the pollen grains. Some plants offer nectar or edible pollen to attract insects, bats, or other animals that carry the pollen from plant to plant as they forage. Many flowers also attract pollinators with scent.
Dejen Mengis, USGS
“Like perfume in a store, flower scents are made up of a enormous and diverse number of chemicals that evaporate easily and become airborne,” writes Mississippi State University horticulturist Richard L. Harkess“To distinguish themselves from other flowers, the flowers of each species secrete a unique scent to attract specific pollinators. … Once pollinated, the flower stops secreting floral scent and nectar and redirects its energy to the fertilized embryo that will become seed.”
Learn more: Why do flowers smell?
2. Bees at the buffet
It is known that many insect species have declined in recent years. One of the main goals is honey bees and other bee species that pollinate many vital crops.
In a 2021 study, an agricultural extension specialist at the University of Florida Hamutahl Cohen found that when bees visited fields where sunflowers were blooming as a crop, over many acres, they quickly became infected with the parasites. In contrast, bees that foraged in hedgerows around the crops and had a variety of flowers to choose from spread farther and had lower infection rates.
ucanr, CC BY-ND
“The more bees in the sunflower fields, the more parasites there were,” Cohen noted. “Sunflower blooms caused bees to aggregate, which in turn increased the risk of disease.” But “in the presence of multiple flower types, bees disperse and spread across resources, reducing the likelihood that each bee will encounter an infected individual.”
Read more: Planting a mix of flowers around crop fields helps keep bees vigorous
3. Warmer weather means more pollen
As climate change raises average temperatures across the United States, growing seasons are starting earlier and ending later in the year. That’s bad news for allergy sufferers.
“Warmer temperatures will extend the growing season, giving plants more time to release pollen and reproduce,” write atmospheric scientists at the University of Michigan Yingxiao Zhang AND Allison L. Steiner. And by increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere, climate change will allow plants to grow more and produce more pollen.
“Southeastern regions, including Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, can expect enormous increases in grass and weed pollen in the future. In the Pacific Northwest, the peak pollen season will likely occur a month earlier due to the early alder pollen season,” Zhang and Steiner report.
Read more: Pollen season is getting longer and more intense due to climate change – here’s what allergy sufferers can expect in the future
4. Providing better forecasts
With so much pollen out there, how can allergy sufferers know when their counts are high? The U.S. currently has only a rudimentary network of 90 pollen monitoring stations across the country, staffed by volunteers and operating only during pollen season, so there’s often no good information about when people need it.
Fiona Loenvironmental health scientist at the University of Washington, is working with colleagues to develop a model that can predict the release of airborne pollen. “Our prediction can predict specific types of pollen because our model includes information about how each type of plant interacts with the environment differently,” Lo says.
So far, the model only predicts levels of four common types of pollen in areas where observation stations are located. Eventually, though, Lo and her colleagues “want to provide a forecast every day during the pollen season to give allergy sufferers the information they need to manage their symptoms. Allergies are often undertreated, and there’s circumscribed knowledge about self-care, so a reliable pollen forecast that can be easily accessed—for example, through a phone app—along with education about how to manage allergies could really assist allergy sufferers.”
Read more: Radiant, but sneezing hazard – I’m creating a pollen forecasting tool to assist allergy sufferers determine when it’s secure to go outside
5. Support pollinators in your garden
Pollen season is also gardening season because that is when plants bloom. West Virginia University mycologist Brian Lovett offers advice to gardeners who want to attract beneficial insects to their gardens that will pollinate plants and serve other purposes.
One step is to replace grass with native wildflowers, which provide pollen and nectar for insects like ants, bees and butterflies. “Just like you might have a favorite local restaurant, the insects that live in your area like flowers that are native to their areas,” Lovett notes.
Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images
Replacing white bulbs with yellow or toasty LED bulbs and providing water in dishes or other containers are also insect-friendly steps. Local university offices and garden centers can offer other suggestions.
“I think humans too often see themselves as separate from nature, which leads us to relegate biodiversity to designated parks,” Lovett notes. “But in reality, we are an vital part of the natural world and we need insects as much as they need us.”
Read more: To assist insects, make them welcome in your garden – here’s how
[Get fascinating science, health and technology news. Sign up for The Conversation’s weekly science newsletter.]
