{"id":252612,"date":"2026-04-30T16:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T16:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/252612\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T16:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T16:00:08","slug":"usfsp-students-reflect-on-this-springs-rising-temperatures-the-crows-nest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/252612\/","title":{"rendered":"USFSP students reflect on this spring\u2019s rising temperatures\u00a0\u00a0 \u2013 The Crow’s Nest"},"content":{"rendered":"

A look at spring on the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo Courtesy of University of South Florida\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

By Ashley Pena\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bright, green oak trees and sparkling Bayboro Harbor make walking along the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus in the middle of spring seem like a dream come true for students. But the dream ends when huge piles of pollen come raining down.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This spring, allergy season kicked off early in March with pollen counts reaching their peak across Florida. A month later, USF St. Petersburg\u00a0seems to be\u00a0drowning in pollen.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Courtney Jean, a public health junior,\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0feel the effects of seasonal allergies until her first semester on campus.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started my freshman spring semester, my allergies seemed to flare up and became quite severe,\u201d Jean told\u00a0The Crow\u2019s Nest.\u00a0\u201cI was sneezing constantly, my throat felt like sandpaper and my eyes would swell up from irritation.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, Jean finds that her allergies have only worsened with the high pollen counts.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pollen definitely seems to be more potent during this allergy season, so my symptoms have been a bit more severe,\u201d Jean said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to high pollen counts, last month was the warmest March in U.S. history. Rising temperatures lead to a longer growth season for pollinating trees, resulting in an aggressive allergy season\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0only beginning.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

While there is a limited number of ways to combat seasonal allergies \u2014 staying indoors or taking allergy medicine \u2014 students like Morgan Niem, a junior graphic design major, see an opportunity to alleviate the allergy season through landscaping.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPlant female trees,\u201d Niem told\u00a0The\u00a0Crow\u2019s Nest.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

USF St. Petersburg is lined with male oak trees, which spew out pollen as opposed to female trees which release seeds. As the rising temperatures make it difficult to avoid longer growth seasons, a literal change in the scenery may be one of the only direct solutions there are.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Taylor Rand, a senior biology major with a concentration in evolution and ecology, finds that this spring\u2019s hot weather is not only\u00a0impacting\u00a0pollen counts but insects as well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRising temperatures as a result of global climate change has likely contributed to the reduction in insect populations and insect diversity we\u2019re seeing around the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Skye Smith, a psychology major senior, agrees that there is a noticeable difference in the number of bugs flying around.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to hate going outside the last two years during the spring because of all the bugs,\u201d Smith told\u00a0The Crow\u2019s Nest.\u00a0\u201cNow I\u2019m worried because it\u2019s no longer an issue and I rarely see the bugs I used to have so many issues with.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Spring commonly brings out bugs seeking out warmth. Unfortunately, rising temperatures have made that\u00a0nearly unviable\u00a0for them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGlobal warming can have serious impacts on insect populations by altering resource availability and reproductive timing,\u201d said Rand, \u201cMany insect species are specialists, relying on one or two single plant species for food and timing of their reproductive cycle; when things like rising temperatures begin to affect local host plant populations, insect diversity will undoubtedly begin to decline.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rand emphasized that as insects experience habitat loss due to global warming, biodiversity is threatened as well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the ecosystem services that insects provide\u2013pollination, acting as a food resource for birds and reptiles, controlling other pest insect populations, cleaning up organic debris\u2013are essential to any healthy, stable ecosystem.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It can be easy to dismiss insects as a nuisance or even gross, but insect diversity plays a key role for the ecosystem.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cInsects are deeply interconnected with our local ecosystems in ways that we often cannot even understand, until they are gone,\u201d said Rand.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

As temperatures continue to rise, this spring season may prove to be a rough one for bugs as well as anyone suffering with allergies.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t Post Views: 40 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\"More<\/a>
Written by: Ashley Pena<\/a> on April 30, 2026.
Last revised by: Julia Ferrara<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A look at spring on the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus.\u00a0\u00a0 Photo Courtesy of University of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-252612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}