Monitoring methodology

Sampling
Each station collects pollen and fungal spores 24h/24h with a “Burkard Volumetric Spore Sampler” unit. The upper part of the sampler rotates, driven by the wind vane. Air is sucked into the sampler through a calibrated slit and is captured on a prepared adhesive tape at a set rate corresponding to the human respiration rate (10 l per minute).

The sampler is located on a roof. This allows to obtain mean data, representative for an area of 20 to 30 km around the station.


Pollen : identification and counts Identification and pollen counts, captured on the adhesive tape, are done microscopically (enlargement 400x) for an area that is representative of 1 cubic meter of air per day.

Slide from April (birch pollen) seen microscopically	Slide from June (grass pollen) seen microscopically	Slide from July seen microscopically