title: The role of temperature in the onset of the Olea europaea L. pollen season in southwestern Spain.
abstract: Temperature is one of the main factors affecting the flowering of Mediterranean trees. In the case of Olea europaea L., a low-temperature period prior to bud development is essential to interrupt dormancy. After that, and once a base temperature is reached, the plant accumulates heat until flowering starts. Different methods of obtaining the best-forecast model for the onset date of the O. europaea pollen season, using temperature as the predictive parameter, are proposed in this paper. An 18-year pollen and climatic data series (1982-1999) from Cordoba (Spain) was used to perform the study. First a multiple-regression analysis using 15-day average temperatures from the period prior to flowering time was tested. Second, three heat-summation methods were used, determining the the quantities heat units (HU): accumulated daily mean temperature after deducting a threshold, growing degree-days (GDD): proposed by Snyder [J Agric Meteorol 35:353-358 (1985)] as a measure of physiological time, and accumulated maximum temperature. In the first two, the optimum base temperature selected for heat accumulation was 12.5 degrees C. The multiple-regression equation for 1999 gives a 7-day delay from the observed date. The most accurate results were obtained with the GDD method, with a difference of only 4.7 days between predicted and observed dates. The average heat accumulation expressed as GDD was 209.9 degrees C days. The HU method also gives good results, with no significant statistical differences between predictions and observations.
authors: Departamento de Biología Vegetal, Facultad de Ciencias, Córdoba, Spain. bv1gasoc@lucano.uco.es
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Galán
authors: H
authors: H
authors: García-Mozo
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Cariñanos
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Alcázar
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Domínguez-Vilches
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens; D006801:Humans; D019684:Magnoliopsida; D008685:Meteorological Concepts; D011058:Pollen; D012044:Regression Analysis; D006255:Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal / Q000209:etiology; D012621:Seasons; D013030:Spain; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens