6 ms·
Hmm, most German forests are also vast monoculture 'tree farms' and have been for the last 250 years (also caused by large scale deforestation in the centuries
by flohofwoe 5mo ago
Hmm, most German forests are also vast monoculture 'tree farms' and have been for the last 250 years (also caused by large scale deforestation in the centuries before). In the Ore Mountains we also have those yellow clouds of pollen coming off spruce trees every few years, covering everything with a thin yellow dust layer, yet I'm not aware that the number of people with pollen allergies is exceptionally high (oth, maybe it was 200 years ago and by now the population has become immune, or maybe the tree pollen in Japan is just more aggressive...).
- indoordin0saur 5mo agoSome trees pollen causes allergies, other tree pollen does not. Peanuts frequently produce allergic reactions, macadamia nuts rarely do.
- alphabeta3r56 5mo agoGermany has half the percentage of forest as Japan
- thrownthatway 5mo agoContext: Germany, area 357,022 km2 (137,847 sq mi) water 1.27% Japan, area 377,975 km2 (145,937 sq mi), water 1.4%
- flohofwoe 5mo agoOn average sure, but there are regions in Germany with both high amount of forest areas and fairly high population density (e.g. Ore Mountain region up to 50% forest area and more than 200 people/km^2).
- iLoveOncall 5mo agoHayfever allergy rates are growing around the whole world, Germany included.
- postepowanieadm 5mo agoSpruce is also a problem in Poland, especially southern. Leaf trees have been replaced with "fast growing" spruce over a hundred years ago.
- idiomaddict 5mo agoI moved to Germany as an adult from a completely separate biome, and I’ve got terrible problems with allergies I never had in my home country
- thrownthatway 5mo ago[flagged]
- eesmith 5mo ago"A biome (/ˈbaɪ.oʊm/ BY-ohm) is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, animal life, and an ecosystem. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biome
- thrownthatway 5mo agoIt’s the ”completely separate” claim I take issue with. How can it be completely separate? And anyway, as soon as you move one organism to another area, it brings with it all its commensal and parasitic organisms.
- eesmith 5mo agoBecause "completely" isn't read to include everything down to tardigrades and E.coli. To start, here are examples of (seemingly knowledgeable) people using that phrase: "The Atlantic lowland forest of Brazil comprises a completely separate biome from the Amazonian forests to the north and west, and is home to a rich array of endemic fauna and flora. Among over 200 endemic birds are at least ten endemic genera, including such spectacular species as the Seven-coloured Tanager (Tangara fastuosa)" - https://archive.org/details/atlasofbirdsdive0000unwi/mode/2up?q=%22completely+separate+biome%22 https://archive.org/details/atlasofbirdsdive0000unwi/mode/2u... "Now called the pine-hemlock hardwood forest, or northern hardwoods, it had survived the axe, fire, and insects, and lay as an ecotone between deciduous forest to the south and coniferous forest to the north. Shelford considered it to be a third association of the transcontinental coniferous forest biome, while Clements viewed it as a completely separate biome." - https://archive.org/details/pioneerecologist00crok/mode/2up?q=%22completely+separate+biome%22 https://archive.org/details/pioneerecologist00crok/mode/2up?... We can see the first page of that latter paper at https://www.jstor.org/stable/1930076 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1930076 . It start "Plant ecologists have regarded an essentially complete difference in climax dominants as the basis for the recognition of the major plant communities called plant formations." then mentions how that "usually includes some wide-ranging species among the dominants" ending "It is the purpose of this paper to show that it is not always feasible to make sole use of the criteria of plant dominants and maintain the integrity of some of the impor-". (For a summary of the paper, go back to https://archive.org/details/pioneerecologist00crok/mode/2up?q=%22completely+separate+biome%22 https://archive.org/details/pioneerecologist00crok/mode/2up?... .) So "completely separate" should be read to mean something more like "essentially complete difference", and not "absolute difference".
- efesak 5mo agoThe spruce and other local conifers (I live by the Bohemian Forest/Bayerischer Wald) have pollen that seems to be low allergenic by design. I know a lot of people who are allergic to birch or weed pollen, but not to spruce.
- sidewndr46 5mo agoBy design? Who designed the pollen in those trees?
- freehorse 5mo agoI read it as "breeds selected to be low-allergenic" by the relative orgs that I assume (re)planted them there but I have no real idea about german forests and the processes of planting trees there.
- indoordin0saur 5mo agoNo. Just some trees that produce pollen aren't particularly allergenic.
- noselasd 5mo agoSo by coincidence, not by design then.
- IrishTechie 5mo agoI guess they meant 'by nature', but maybe not, which will be fun to hear!
- Izkata 5mo agoI assume they meant the people who planted those "tree farms", that they chose trees people were less allergic to.
- SapporoChris 5mo agoDifferent pollen have different weights. If you're seeing yellow dust laying on the ground then it's likely to be a heavy pollen that won't bother many people unless they actively stir it up. Example: People with pine allergies aren't really bothered unless they play in the pine needles and stir it up. Not familiar with the biology of the matter. But I would assume there are advantages and disadvantages to the weight of the pollen in how it disperses and pollinates.
- INTPenis 5mo agoPollen allergies have definitely skyrocketed in Sweden. We used to be able to sit in an office and work all year without hearing people sniffle and sneeze. Now it's like an epidemic, at least half the office is affected.
- reeredfdfdf 5mo agoProbably we can blame higher hygiene standards, or some other environmental factor for it. Forests haven't changed much in past decades. Here in Finland I've never been affected by any kind of tree pollen at all, but somehow timothy grass pollen gives me horrible symptoms, forcing me to take antihistamine most of the summer. I lived my childhood near farmland and forests, so definitely got exposed to both forms of pollen at early age.
- skirge 5mo agofood is full of histamine, especially fish and fermented food which is considered healthy but some (MCAS, HIT) people are sensitive.
- INTPenis 5mo agoYes timotej is my allergy as well. And I got it as an adult, in 2009. So 26 years without any allergies, then suddenly, one summer in Helsingborg, the air was thick with pollen. I remember the smell was like cheese doodles in the air, musty. Once I got back from an errand in the city my face was leaking, I walked to the pharmacy with blurry vision to get my first antihistamines. Ever since then every year june is a nightmare. It affects your sleep, so it affects every part of life. And since then I've observed more and more pollen allergies around me, friends, co-workers, strangers on the bus. It's very prevalent. I would not be surprised if humans caused this somehow with our modern city planning.
- the_af 5mo agoOnce you get sensitized, it gets worse every year, right? Since my teenage years I was mildly allergic to pollen, and now in my adulthood it seems to be getting progressively worse. Each spring is worse than the previous one, and the antihistamines do less effect (or so I subjectively feel).
- Xmd5a 5mo ago"why do you sneeze, we don't do that Germany"
- soni96pl 5mo agoMy aunt in Poland has terrible allergies now because of yellow pollen from spruce, but I'm not sure how that translates to larger population, other than it does happen
- jeltz 5mo agoSpruce allergy is a thing but it is rare. Only a few unlucky people suffer from it.
- dathinab 5mo agoone one had Japan seem to have quite bad luck with the specific tree(s) mass planted but also on the other hand in Germany problems with allergies are very common and a pretty big deal for many people, it's just that we got used to it but also while Germany has not-very-diverse "tree farms" for a very long time, the level of monoculture got way worse in the last 70-100 years AFIK, especially after WW2 the only way to cope with the extreme high demand was to mostly plant very fast growing trees. I.e. mostly spruce and pine. Idk. if allergies got worse due to this and we just didn't notice because of having so much bigger problems (like many cities lying in ashes) or if Germany always had similar bad allergy problems. But this WW2 induced increase in monoculture is still a huge problem even ignoring allergies as this made German forests especially susceptible to things like pests and adding stress from climate change has lead to mass dying of trees in some regions.
- zeristor 5mo agoIn Germany I understand the non-native trees in the warmer climate are succumbing to beetles, and dying out. I understand that they're being replanted by more native species.
- flohofwoe 5mo agoYes true, especially the Harz mountains currently look like a post-apocalyptic wasteland (also visible on Google Maps), it will take decades to regrow with more diverse and climate resistant tree types, but worth it (compared to reforesting with another layer of fast growing trees of the same type).
- IAmBroom 5mo agoPollen can be broadly separated into airborne and not-airborne. Ragweed pollen is light enough to be borne miles by wind. Goldenrod pollen is too heavy for that, but is sticky, and is carried on fur and feathers. Ironically, people blame the showy goldenrod blooms for allergies, although they likely have never had goldenrod pollen in their breathing passages - while lowly, hiding ragweed unleashes millions of barbed pollens spores upon their breathing passages. (Ragweed flowers are small and green - you can stare at a plant and not realize it's blooming!) Likewise: the sap of poison ivy is strongly allergenic; the sap of maple trees almost never, due to reactivity with immune systems. Americans are likely to be exposed to both. So, in short: there are plants that are potential allergy-sources, and others that are not.
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- sajithdilshan 5mo agoIn Berlin the situation is horrible. For the past few weeks the pollen mixed with rain water looks like a yellow chemical spill on the side of the roads. Also it gets worse depending on the wind as well because most of the pollen from nearby forests in Brandenburg ends up in Berlin as well. I grew up in a tropical country and never ever had any allergies in my life but in Berlin if I step outside with taking anti-allergy pills, that would be the death of me