Itchy eyes, stuffy nose and extreme fatigue.
Pollen allergy is a particularly unpleasant ailment that millions of people around the world suffer from every year and which can sometimes make it difficult for us to do work and study.
And many things seem to indicate that this boring plague will simply increase and strengthen in the coming years.
This is the conclusion of a large-scale American study that indicates that the pollen season is going to get longer and worse in the coming decades due to global warming.
The pollen grains are the sperm cells of the plants
When trees and grass species flower and reproduce, they do so with the help of pollen grains, which are tiny grains that are 0.0015 cm in diameter, which means they are less than half the thickness of a strand of hair.
It is the male plants that release these tiny grains, but they are then carried by the wind to nearby plants and fertilize them.
The pollen grains contain the plant’s genetic material, just like sperm cells in the animal kingdom, and when a pollen grain lands on the anther’s seed, the plant is fertilized.
The seed is the part of the plant that catches the pollen with its sticky wax and carries it to the plant’s “womb”, which is a collection of cells that become seeds when the pollen pollinates them.
The cells form the plant seed itself and new plants begin to form.
Scientists fear that the number of allergy sufferers will increase
If a study published in the scientific journal Nature is anything to go by, the pollen season in the United States is likely to move forward by 40 days in the next decade or so, and will last 19 days longer than it is now.
In addition, scientists fear that the annual amount of pollen in the air may increase by a total of 200% if carbon dioxide emissions remain unchanged from what they are now.
This trend is already taking place in many parts of Europe, where global warming has increased plant growth and meant that countless pollen grains are floating in the air earlier in the spring than previously known.
As a result, scientists fear that the number of allergy patients will increase significantly because the risk of allergies increases in line with the number of pollen grains that find their way into our mucous membranes and lungs.
Climate change boosts pollination
The number of pollen grains in the air is determined by the growth of the plants: As growth increases, the number of pollen grains increases.
Climate change is crucial in this regard.
A higher temperature extends the growth period of the plants and thus gives the plants more time to form pollen and reproduce.
In addition, carbon dioxide is useful for photosynthesis, which makes the plants grow even more and produce even more pollen.
The body stores information about allergies
Once the immune system has determined that a particular particle is hostile, it does not forget it again.
