Spider webs-a natural trap of spores and pollen

This study is concerned with the spore and pollen analysis of 21 spider webs, which were collected from the Eastern, Central and Western zones of the Greater Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. Sixteen pollen taxa belonging to 15 families from Eastern zone, 21 pollen taxa of 15 families from Central zone and 28 pollen taxa of 20 families from Western zone were recorded. The fungal spores and pollen grains extracted from spider webs reflect the distinct characteristics of the regional vegetation, which changes from East to West on both sides of Moosi River of Greater Hyderabad. The Central zone is occupied by the dominance of fungal spores and allergenic pollen grains. The trapped pollen and spores in spider webs and natural traps of these three zones clearly indicate that the Central zone is more allergenic due to effective qualitative and quantitative dispersal of allergenic palynoflora.