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Ragweed (Ambrosia sp.) in Slovenia and Croatia

Ragweed (Ambrosia sp.), an originally North American species, has been expanding in Europe during the second half of the 20th century, causing considerable health problems to the sensitive allergic population. Especially in the 1990s, the plant migrated rapidly into new areas, starting its expansion from Hungary and Croatia towards the north and the west. Because of its allergenic character, monitoring of ragweed pollen has been performed in Europe for years. The aim of the study was to determine and to compare the airborne ragweed pollen count variation in three cities southern of the Alps in Slovenia and in Croatia according to the onset, duration of season, peak values and total annual count. Seven-day Hirst volumetric pollen and spore traps were used for pollen sampling. The samplers were placed in Ljubljana and Maribor in the prealpine geographical region of Slovenia and in Zagreb in the central part of Croatia. The distance between the monitoring sites is about 100 km. The two pollen seasons (2002 and 2003) were investigated. They were very dissimilar according to weather conditions in August: in 2002 abundant precipitation and normal temperatures, and in 2003 extremely warm and dry. In Slovenia, the mean total daily ragweed pollen concentrations (Ljubljana 1, 076 and Maribor 1, 183) were slightly higher in 2002 than in 2003 (Ljubljana 1, 007 ; Maribor 1, 138). In Croatia, the mean total annual concentration measured in Zagreb in 2003 (9, 601) was by 3.5% greater in comparison with 2002 (9, 243). The annual total concentrations measured in Zagreb were ninefold those recorded in the cities in Slovenia. The peak daily concentrations were recorded in the first week of September at all three monitoring sites. In Croatia, the main ragweed pollen season began earlier (the beginning of August) than in Ljubljana and Maribor (second half of August). In 2003, the ragweed pollen season was by 43%, 25% and 30% longer than in 2002 in Zagreb, Ljubljana and Maribor, respectively. In both pollen seasons in Slovenia, the percentage proportion of ragweed pollen in the total monthly pollen count was 15% in August and 40% in September. In both seasons, the total ragweed pollen count and number of days with ragweed pollen concentration greater than 30 pollen grains per m3 air showed an increasing tendency from the west to the east.

aerobiology; ragweed; pollen concentrations; Slovenia; Croatia

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