Abstracts, XIV OPTIMA Meeting, Palermo (Italy) , 9-15

XIV OPTIMA Meeting, Palermo (Italy), 9-15 September 2013
Airborne pollen as bioindicator of olive crop forecast for the Mediterranean area
FORNACIARI M. 1 , GALÁN C. 2 , MSALLEM M. 3 , ORLANDI F. 1 , GARCIA-MOZO H. 2 , BEN DHIAB A. 3 ,
BONOFIGLIO T. 4 , ROMANO B. 1
1 Dept. Applied Biology. University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy. E-mail: marco.fornaciaridapassano@unipg.it
2 Dept. Botany, Ecology and Plant Physiology, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain.
3 Institut de l’Olivier, Tunis, Tunisia.
4 Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Perugia, Italy.
The pollination in most species is represented by anemophilous and entomophilous processes.
While in entomophilous plants pollen transport is generally attributed to insects, in the
anemophilous one the pollen dispersion is random through the wind. In this last typology the plant
need to reach an effective pollination success by producing large amount of pollen grains to be
emitted in the atmosphere during blooming.
Pollen released can be monitored through different aerobiological monitoring samplers and techniques,
in particular the volumetric monitoring method permits to estimate average daily airborne
pollen per volume of air (pollen grains/m 3 ).
On the other hand, this method permits also to obtain qualitative evaluation of the pollen grains with
optical microscope identification and pollen attribution to a precise species, genus or family. The principal
results of this analysis are represented by the pollination curves, which permit to obtain different
phenological information (pollen season start, full, end) and by the quantities of the pollen emitted.
These information are very useful in medical field considering the pollen calendars for pollinosis, and
in agriculture context with plants of economic interest, considering pollen implications as predicting
fruit setting and final harvest. Moreover, some plant species can be utilized as bio-indicators in bio-climatic
studies evaluating their flowering features in relation to yearly meteorological influences.
In these last years, a common approach was realized between Italian, Spanish and Tunisian research
centres to study, through aerobiological investigations, one of the more important anemophilous
species, the olive, in the Mediterranean basin. These multiregional pollen networks were located in
Andalusia, centre and south Italy and Tunisia.
Aerobiological data and climate characteristics of the study areas were utilized in olive yield forecasting
analyses to estimate in advance the potential fruit productions. The principal result of this
investigation was the definition of local and regional statistical models to interpret and forecast yearly
olive fruit productions useful in the olive oil sector. These models could be also utilized in other
anemophilous species of economic interest such as hazel, chestnut, pistachio, date palm.
Moreover, the obtained bio-meteorological databases permitted to establish the olive as an effective
bio-indicator in the Mediterranean area, in a climate change scenario for evaluating potential future
plant adaptations.
Finally, the olive flowering calendars with the principal pollination periods were utilized in the medical
prevention for allergic individuals in the specific monitoring areas, considering that olive pollinosis
are increasing in the last years.
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