How climate change will affect allergens
Jennifer Albertine, visiting lecturer in environmental studies at Mount Holyoke College, spoke to Boston 25 News about how climate change will reshape pollen production.
Climate change will wreak great changes across New England. The commonwealth’s agriculture, wildlife and coastline will all be affected. As Boston 25 News (WFXT-TV) reports, climate change will also have a lasting impact on allergen production.
The station spoke to Jennifer Albertine, visiting lecturer in environmental studies, to discuss her experiments on pollen production and how it might be reshaped by climate change.
In order to track how plants may respond to increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, she had surrounded them by the amount of carbon dioxide projected to be in the atmosphere by the year 2100.
“Per flower, there was a 50% increase in the amount of pollen being produced,” Albertine said. Due to increased plant flowering and the amount of pollen being produced, there was a 200% increase in pollen overall.