The allergenic potential of green urban areas in the Macaronesian islands: The case of Funchal City (Madeira)
Public gardens are elements that constitute the urban green infrastructure. Such units provide ecosystem services that are becoming a key concern in urban planning strategies. In this survey the allergenic potential of two public gardens in Funchal, a city exhibiting sub-tropical and Mediterranean c...
| Autores: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2024 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/362620 |
| Acesso em linha: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/362620 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Allergenic plants Urban green spaces Allergenic index IUGZA Funchal city |
| Resumo: | Public gardens are elements that constitute the urban green infrastructure. Such units provide ecosystem services that are becoming a key concern in urban planning strategies. In this survey the allergenic potential of two public gardens in Funchal, a city exhibiting sub-tropical and Mediterranean climatic features, was assessed. Different allergenic risk scenarios were considered, and the Allergenicity Indexes recalculated. Results show that the Municipal Garden exhibits an I (Index of Urban Green Zone Allergenicity) of 0,39 and Santa Catarina Park an I of 0,16, which are considered spaces of moderate and low allergenicity level, respectively. Among the tested scenarios that could aggravate the I values, the worst would be an extension of the pollen season for all species. This might represent an issue considering the overall trend towards an earlier start and later end of the pollen season from important allergenic plants in Europe. The assessment of the I should include all plant biotypes of an urban green area in subtropical regions as they allow us to infer more precisely on the real risk population is exposed to. It seems that increasing species diversity can improve the allergenic indexes, but novel invasive species should be studied to assess their allergenicity level. |
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