3 ms·

I 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 ago
    It’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 4mo ago
      Because "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".
pelasaco 5mo ago
Yes. I relate myself with that. If i am in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, no issues.. in Germany, i have terrible problems with allergies too.
cluoma 5mo ago
Same here. Some of the worst seasonal allergies I've ever had was while living in Germany. I'm not sure what exactly was responsible; my guess at the time was some sort of grass but I don't know for sure.
ajmurmann 5mo ago
I wonder to what degree it's about what you are used to. I grew up in Germany and never had allergies. However, after a few years in the Pacific Northwest I developed seasonal allergies that get worse every year.

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 ago
  It’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 4mo ago
    Because "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".

pelasaco 5mo ago

Yes. I relate myself with that. If i am in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, no issues.. in Germany, i have terrible problems with allergies too.

cluoma 5mo ago

Same here. Some of the worst seasonal allergies I've ever had was while living in Germany. I'm not sure what exactly was responsible; my guess at the time was some sort of grass but I don't know for sure.

ajmurmann 5mo ago

I wonder to what degree it's about what you are used to. I grew up in Germany and never had allergies. However, after a few years in the Pacific Northwest I developed seasonal allergies that get worse every year.