Monitoring the distribition of highly allergic pollens in the atmosphere in Bornova (İzmir) district

In this study, it is aimed to determine the pollination time of the plant species in İzmir region and species, seasonal variations of pollens in the air. In 1985, pollination calendar in Bornova (İzmir) has been issued by gravimetric method and in 1998-1999, pollination calender in city of Izmir has been issued by gravimetric method. In addition, efforts for the creation of pollination calendar by volumetric method has been performed between 1986–1989. Such studies are required to be continuous and sustainable. At first two studies, it was aimed to form a general pollination calendar and detections have been mainly made at genera and species level. In our study, pollens with identified allergic activity by Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Allergy has been prioritized and identifications of species have been made. Primarily, pollination is closely related to climate and meteorological events. Therefore the results have been correlated with climatic and meteorological events. The information from literature and allergy specialists indicates a continuous increase at pollen based allergic diseases. Creating green areas in the urban, harvest of second or third crops, expansion of irrigated farming and widespread use of exotic plants are seen as the main reasons for this. Pollen determination at species level and determination of pollination periods of every species are very important in the diagnosis of pollen based allergic diseases. Our study has been performed by gravimetric method. In addition, the results have been checked by using "Lanzoni VPPS 2000'' branded pollen capture device by volumetric method. Since the study is based on the gravimetric method, Durham device (Durham, 1946) has been used. Accordin to this method, "mounting material" formed with glycerine gelatin mixture has been plowed on the slide, slide is placed on the device's cradle and it has been replaced weekly. A lamella has been closed over the slide and become ready for the microscobic investigation (Gemici, 1987). At volumetric method, used device was "Lanzoni VPPS 2000" branded pollen capture device which has been obtained from the "İzmir pollination calender" Project numbered with TUBITAK – 104 S 345. Reference preparation needed for the pollen determination have been prepared by Wodehouse (1965) method by using the plants spread around İzmir. According to this method, 2-3 drops of %96 alcohol has been dropped over the pollens taken from the plant samples in order to melt the resin and fat. Preparation has been kept over the heater until the alcohol is evaporated and basic fuchsin added glycerine gelatin has been placed over the pollens to provide melting. After a clean needle has been used to secure the disintegration of the pollens, a lamella has been closed over and a label has been affixed on the slide with the information of which plant the preparation belongs to, where it was collected, at which date it was prepared. In our study, B-3000 binocular 'prior' branded research microscope has been used. While 10x ocular and x10 apochromat objectives have been used for pollen counting process, 10x ocular, x40 and x100 apochromat immersion objectives have been used for determination processes. December 2015 HAKAN ERTEKİN