Abundance of airborne pollen for nine grass species, measured by qPCR, UK, 2016-2017
bibliographic citation: Brennan, G., Creer, S., Griffith, G. (2020). Abundance of airborne pollen for nine grass species, measured by qPCR, UK, 2016-2017. NERC Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/28208be4-0163-45e6-912c-2db205126925
description: The dataset contains abundance data of airborne pollen (including Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal-grass), Arrhenatherum elatius (false oat-grass), Cynosurus cristatus (crested dog's-tail), Dactylis glomerata (cock's-foot), Lolium perenne (perennial ryegrass), Phleum pratense (Timothy), Poa pratensis (smooth meadow-grass), grass species within the genera Alopecurus/Agrostis, and one probe that was found to be degenerate and unable to discriminate grass species. Here we used qPCR to track the seasonal progression of airborne grass pollen, in time and space. To do this we collected aerial samples from thirteen sites across the UK during the pollen seasons (May to September) of 2016 and 2017.
provenance: ProvenanceStatement
  label: The qPCR data was collected using a QuantStudio 6 Flex Real-Time qPCR machine (ThermoFisher Scientific). Species-specific primers were designed to target the ITS2 region of abundant grass species in the UK including Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal-grass), Arrhenatherum elatius (false oat-grass), Cynosurus cristatus (crested dog's-tail), Dactylis glomerata (cock's-foot), Lolium perenne (perennial ryegrass), Phleum pratense (Timothy), Poa pratensis (smooth meadow-grass), grass species within the genera Alopecurus/Agrostis, and one probe that was found to be degenerate and unable to discriminate grass species. Of 1,400 daily aerial samples, 1,210 were selected for downstream molecular analysis. Samples were excluded if pollen could not be reliably extracted due to large volumes of rainwater in collection tubes. Quantitative PCR runs with PCR efficiencies less than 85% and greater than 115% were not used for further analysis (efficiency of qPCR data used in downstream analysis ranged between 88.5% and 106%). Data points with a large standard deviation between three technical replicates (>6.95, based on the upper quartile range of the data) were removed. In addition, samples which amplified before 10 cycles and after 38 cycles were removed to reduce the chance of detecting false positive or false negative amplification respectively. The reliability of the data was evaluated based on the positive and negative controls.
spatial: Location
temporal: PeriodOfTime
  start date: 2016-05-01
  end date: 2017-09-30
publisher: NERC Environmental Information Data Centre
subject: Biodiversity
subject: Airborne pollen
subject: environmental DNA
subject: quantitative PCR (qPCR)
subject: grass pollen season
subject: pollen
subject: DNA
subject: Anthoxanthum odoratum
subject: sweet vernal-grass
subject: Arrhenatherum elatius
subject: false oat-grass
subject: Cynosurus cristatus
subject: crested dog's-tail
subject: Dactylis glomerata
subject: cock's-foot
subject: Lolium perenne
subject: perennial ryegrass)
subject: Phleum pratense
subject: Timothy
subject: Poa pratensis
subject: smooth meadow-grass
type: Dataset
available: 2020-12-15
landing page: https://doi.org/10.5285/28208be4-0163-45e6-912c-2db205126925
license: OGL-UK-3.0.ttl
access rights: UNRS
theme: Biodiversity
distribution:
  access URL: https://data-package.ceh.ac.uk/data/28208be4-0163-45e6-912c-2db205126925
  license: OGL-UK-3.0.ttl
  access rights: UNRS
  format: Comma-separated values (CSV)
creator: Brennan, G.
creator: Creer, S.
creator: Griffith, G.
language: en

Brennan, G.
type: Person
family name: Brennan
given name: Georgina
member: Bangor University

NERC Environmental Information Data Centre
type: Organization

Brennan, G.
type: Person
family name: Brennan
given name: G.
member: Bangor University

Creer, S.
type: Person
family name: Creer
given name: S.
member: Bangor University

Griffith, G.
type: Person
family name: Griffith
given name: G.
member: Aberystwyth University

Biodiversity
type: Concept

pollen
type: Concept

DNA
type: Concept

Anthoxanthum odoratum
type: Concept

Arrhenatherum elatius
type: Concept

Cynosurus cristatus
type: Concept

Dactylis glomerata
type: Concept

Lolium perenne
type: Concept

Phleum pratense
type: Concept

Poa pratensis
type: Concept