Application of redundancy analysis for aerobiological data

• Published in: International journal of biometeorology Vol. 59; no. 1; pp. 25 - 36
• Main Authors: Sadyś, Magdalena, Strzelczak, Agnieszka, Grinn-Gofroń, Agnieszka, Kennedy, Roy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.01.2015; Springer Berlin Heidelberg; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: air; Air Microbiology; Air Pollutants - analysis; allergenicity; Allergens - analysis; Animal Physiology; atmospheric pressure; Biological and Medical Physics; Biology; Biophysics; correspondence analysis; dew; Dew point; Earth and Environmental Science; England; Environment; Environmental factors; Environmental Health; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Environmental Monitoring - statistics & numerical data; fungal spores; Fungi; Fungi - classification; Fungi - isolation & purification; Meteorology; Ordination; Original Paper; Plant Physiology; rain; Relative humidity; spore traps; Spores, Fungal - isolation & purification; surveys; temperature; variance; Weather; wind direction; England; United Kingdom > UK; Worcester England; British Isles, England; Aerobiology; Meteorological parameters; Species-environment relationship; RDA; Fungal spores
• ISSN: 0020-7128; 1432-1254
• DOI: 10.1007/s00484-014-0818-4

An aerobiological survey was conducted through five consecutive years (2006–2010) at Worcester (England). The concentration of 20 allergenic fungal spore types was measured using a 7-day volumetric spore trap. The relationship between investigated fungal spore genera and selected meteorological parameters (maximum, minimum, mean and dew point temperatures, rainfall, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction) was examined using an ordination method (redundancy analysis) to determine which environmental factors favoured their most abundance in the air and whether it would be possible to detect similarities between different genera in their distribution pattern. Redundancy analysis provided additional information about the biology of the studied fungi through the results of the Spearman’s rank correlation. Application of the variance inflation factor in canonical correspondence analysis indicated which explanatory variables were auto-correlated and needed to be excluded from further analyses. Obtained information will be consequently implemented in the selection of factors that will be a foundation for forecasting models for allergenic fungal spores in the future.