Aerobiological monitoring and Aurelian Walls: between pollen and history

Denise De Franco ¹, Maria Antonia Brighetti ², Alessandro Di Menno di Bucchianico ³, Raffaela Gaddi ³, Alessandro Travaglini ²

Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy; PhD Program in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy ¹, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy ², Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Via Vitaliano Brancati 48, 00144 Rome, Italy ³

Aerobiological monitoring is a key tool for monitoring pollinosis, changes in land use and vegetation in an area. The city of Rome has a geomorphological diversity that is home to different species, which is reflected in the pollen spectrum of such a large and complex urban area. Knowing that pollen is considered an environmental bioindicator for the characterization of the flora present in an area (Brighetti et al., 2022), for the assessment of the anthropogenic effect of land use and vegetation cover and their relative evolution in the vicinity of the Aurelian Walls, we used aerobiological monitoring (hourly and routine readings) to investigate the causes of the biodeterioration of the city walls attributable not only to pollutants but also to the wild growth of flora and vegetation on the Aurelian Walls. To this end, phytosociological surveys and continuous and discontinuous aerobiological sampling campaigns were conducted simultaneously in the vicinity of the Walls from April to June 2024. The purpose of the study is based on identifying the dominant taxa on the Walls that can be classified as elemental population and using their pollen concentrations as a bioindicator of their presence, which with their root systems deface the Walls and, if allergenic, cause allergies. Phytosociological surveys indicate as the most common species on the Walls: Parietaria sp., Urtica sp., Capparis sp., Ruta graveolens L., Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle, Viburnum tinus L., Laurus nobilis L., Hedera helix L., Galium verum L., Teucrium chamaedrys L., Linaria sp. The analysis of the stationary volumetric sampler (VPPS® 2000) located in Boncompagni Street, in the city center, was carried out both adopting the routine reading approach (CEN/TS 16868:2019) and the hourly reading approach, this was done to compare these data with those obtained from the point monitoring carried out with the portable volumetric sampler VPPS® 1000. The value of the study is twofold, on the one hand to increase the awareness of allergy sufferers and the improvement of the well-being of Citizens, and on the other hand to give increasingly precise indications on the maintenance of potentially allergenic urban greenery in order to prevent the biodeterioration of cultural heritage. References Brighetti, M.A., De Franco, D., Di Cosmo. C., Di Menno di Bucchianico, A., Froio, F., Miraglia, A., Moselli, D., Travaglini, A. Aerobiological Biodiversity in the Metropolitan City of Rome. Int J Environ Sci Nat Res. 2022, 30, 556283. CEN/TS 16868:2019. Ambient Air - Sampling and Analysis of Airborne Pollen Grains and Fungal Spores for Networks Related to Allergy - Volumetric Hirst Method.

Main author career stage: PhD student

Contribution type: Poster

First choice session: 6. Plants, Fungi and Society

Second choice session: 2. Ecology