Pollen in lungs and air sacs. A spatio-temporal marker for long distance migrants

Tamisier, Alain and Cour, Pierre and Richard, Paul and Dehorter, Olivier and Pelsy-Mozimanns, Frédéric (1997) Pollen in lungs and air sacs. A spatio-temporal marker for long distance migrants. MAGYAR VÍZIVAD KÖZLEMÉNYEK, 3. pp. 187-188. ISSN 1416-1389

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Abstract

Pollens are microscopic species-specific cells which resist on the long term to strong physical and chemical constraints The pollenic composition of the atmosphere varies with space and time and pollenic calendars are available for most regions (1). Living animals inhale pollens of the biogeographic area where they are and they can store it in their respiratory system. This storage capacity was first demonstrated in man where pollen can stay several month in lungs (2). We first verified that birds can also store pollens in their lungs, air sacs and syrinx (3). Similar mean densities were found in birds as in man (1-5 pollen/g of lung) and higher values in air sacs and syrinx These differences in densitiy between the several parts of the bird respiratory system are likely to be related to the relative importance of the air volume which transits through each of them. Then we tested the hypothesis that pollen stored in respiratory system of birds can indicate migration routes and periods, and can be used to isolate populations.

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