REA pollen management and quality control.
Aerobiology related to different disciplines

The Spanish Aerobiology Network (REA) was funded in 1992 (http://www.uco.es/rea/). This is an academic network, comprising teaching and/or research staff specialising in various areas of Botany, Mycology, Palynology and Atmospheric Dynamics. This is a Technical Network within the Spanish Aerobiology Association (AEA), since the Association was formed in 1995 (www.aea.uma.es/QueesAEA.html).
One of the first goals from the beginning was the development of a standardised methodology to be applied by all the REA sampling units. This methodology has been validated over the years and results have been published, including the effective comparison of data obtained at different altitudes (Galan et al., 1995; Alcazar et al., 1999a, 1999b; Velasco-Jiménez et al., 2012), the sampling media used (Alcázar et al, 2003; Tormo et al., 1996; Galán and Dominguez Vilches, 1997; Comtois et al., 1999; Carvalho et al., 2008), the counting method employed (Cariñanos et al., 2000; Sikoparija et al., 2011; Cotos-Yáñez et al., 2012), the quality control tools applied (Docampo et al., 2009), and the definition of the pollen season (Jato et al., 2006). This research and during our long time acquired experience, led to the publication of the REA Management and Quality Manual (Galán et al., 2007), trying to update that generated before by Dominguez et al. (1992).
A second goal has been the quality control of data generated by this network based on an inter-laboratory survey for proficiency testing purposes. The aim of this study was to determine the performance of technicians in the REA network using an analytical method that could be implemented by other bio-monitoring networks worldwide. The results have evidenced that the REA staff performed well, in accordance with the REA Management and Quality Manual (Oteros et al 2013).

From the beginning the REA also form part of the European Aeroallergen Network (EAN)/European Pollen Information (EPI) https://ean.polleninfo.eu/Ean/, based at the HNO-Klinik, University of Vienna, Austria. The EAN/EPI counts with a Pollen Database with more than 600 pollen counting stations all over Europe, which are running form the last decades. One of the main goals on this network has been focusing on the quality assurance measures from valid samples, something essentials for comparative studies among different geographical regions. For this reason, nowadays different national and regional networks involved in the EAN/EPI are assuming the compromise of planning activities to ensure standard methodology and an implemented quality control. Nowadays, EAN/EPI is presented as a technical network in the European Aerobiology Society (EAS) http://eas.polleninfo.org/. EAS counts with different working groups, i.e. Quality Control. Recently has been published new Minimum requirements to manage aerobiological monitoring stations included in a national network involved in the EAN/EPI, based on the Minimum Requirements described by Jäger et al. (1995), and the results of an external exercises for proficiency testing in slide reading (Galán et al 2014). Thank to use of a standardized network, under a quality control process, is possible to offer updated and forecasting information on different biogeographical and bioclimatic regions in Europe.

Carmen Galán

 

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