Variation in Artemisia pollen seasons in Central and Eastern Europe

This paper aims to address some gaps in current knowledge by studying temporal and spatial variations in Artemisia pollen counts (2000-2009) at 13 sites located in different biogeographical areas of Central and Eastern Europe. Analysis showed that start dates of Artemisia pollen seasons are greatly dependent on temperature during June and July, with hot summer temperatures having a tendency to delay summer flowering. However, this relationship is not linear and the rate at which seasons become later increases when mean minimum June-July temperatures reach a threshold of about 13 degrees C. No explanation for variations in pollen season intensity could be found. The geographical location or amount of urbanisation did not influence, either positively or negatively, the seasonal pollen index. Second peaks in Artemisia pollen seasons can be described as the pollen seasons of late flowering Artemisia species, and mainly occurred in the geographical area south of the Carpathian Mountains. These second peaks can significantly influence the seasonal pollen index, contributing over 50% to the season's total Artemisia pollen recorded at one site. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved