An assessment of ragweed pollen and allergen loads in an uninvaded area in the Western Black Sea region of Turkey

Ambrosia artemisiifolia L., known as common ragweed, is an invasive and allergenic plant that has begun to expand its presence in Turkey. Although ragweed pollen has been monitored for a long time—especially in the atmosphere of cities in Northern Anatolia—the invasion of the plant is more limited compared to that of other European countries. Here, we present the highest ragweed pollen concentration recorded in Turkey, as well as changes in the Amb a 1 allergen level in the air during 2015 and 2016 in Zonguldak, measured using a BGI 900 cascade impactor. The Seasonal Pollen Integral (SPIn) was found to be 709 pollen day/m3 and 1542 pollen day/m3 in 2015–2016, respectively. The sum of Amb a 1 in both stages was 8.42 × 10−3 U/m3 and 13.1 × 10−3 U/m3 over the same period. The number of days in which the Ambrosia pollen concentration was higher than 50 pollen/m3 doubled in 2016 compared to 2015, despite the negative effect of rainfall on pollen and allergen concentration in 2016. The pollen and allergen sources were evaluated by using simulated air mass movement with a Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model. Our findings suggest that individuals in Zonguldak are exposed as much to pollen—and possibly allergens—transported from the Ukraine, Russia and to a limited extent from Moldova. Furthermore, the allergen content of pollen in Zonguldak was much higher than other cities where Amb a 1 is monitored. We also demonstrated that the date of the peak pollen day may be an indicator of the source of long distance transportation.