Airborne fungal spore content in the atmosphere of the city of La Plata, Argentina

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present the first aeromycological study of the atmosphere of the city of La Plata. Air samples were taken using a Hirst-type volumetric spore trap sampler (Lanzoni, VPPS 2000) for a period of a year (July 2000-June 2001). Seventynine morphological types of spores belonging to the Phyla Myxomycota, Zygomycota, Oomycota, Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, as well as anamorphs of Higher Fungi were identified. A total of 171670.21 spores were recorded, with a daily mean of 540 spores/ m 3 . The spores were present throughout the year the study was carried out. However, there was a wide daily fluctuation in the concentration values with a tendency toward an increase during the summer months. The fungal spores were classified in three categories: abundant, having five spore types; moderate having 12 types; and low, with 62 morphological types which represent 67.2, 24.2, and 8.6%, respectively. The most representative taxa were Cladosporium cladosporioides, Leptosphaeria, Cladosporium herbarum, Coprinus, and Agaricus, the first two taxa having a high frequency during the year of study. This scientific research reveals a great diversity of morphological types in this outdoor environment, showing a strong dominance of the Imperfect Fungi, whose components have seasonal rates. By this study, the first aeromycological profile of an urban center of Argentina has been portrayed, and new information on the field of aeromycology in the country has been provided.

Global fungal spore emissions, review and synthesis of literature data

“…As for the prevalence of different spore genera, most of the studies agree that Cladosporium make up a very dominant part of the fungal spore air spora, e.g. Sakiyan and Inceoglu (2003); Mallo et al (2010). Other species such as Alternaria, Aspergillus, Ganoderma, Agaricus, Coprinus, Leptosphaeria or smuts and rusts have been considered as important constituents, but usually showed much lower concentrations than Cladosporium (e.g.…”

“…Other species such as Alternaria, Aspergillus, Ganoderma, Agaricus, Coprinus, Leptosphaeria or smuts and rusts have been considered as important constituents, but usually showed much lower concentrations than Cladosporium (e.g. Sakiyan and Inceoglu, 2003;Mallo et al, 2010). Based on literature studies, Goncalvez et al (2010) concluded that Asperigllus, Alternaria and Penicillium were predominant in hot climates, whereas Cladosporium spores were found to be most abundant in temperate climatic regimes.…”

“…(Davies et al, 1963;Hamilton, 1959;Rodríguez-Rajo et al, 2005;Oliveira et al, 2009;Mallo et al, 2010;Levetin and Dorsey, 2006;Herrero et al, 2006;Wu et al, 2004;Stepalska and Wolek, 2009;Kasprzyk and Worek, 2006;Sakiyan and Inceoglu, 2003). Among these, mostly models from Lanzoni (VPPS 2000) (Lanzoni, 2010) or Burkard (Burkard Scientific, 2000) were used.…”

The ice nucleation ability of one of the most abundant types of fungal spores found in the atmosphere

“…The spores of Cladosporium are passively launched (i.e, separated from the mycelium via wind currents) and they have mean aerodynamic diameters between roughly 2-4 µm (Fröhlich-Nowoisky et al, 2009;Hameed and Khodr, 2001;Jung et al, 2009b;Reponen et al, 2001). Spores of Cladosporium have been frequently observed as the dominant spore near the ground in sampling studies, where they often comprise at least 35% of the total count as a yearly average (Al-Subai, 2002;Herrero et al, 2006;Li and Kendrick, 1995;Lim et al, 1998;Mallo et al, 2011;Mitakakis and Guest, 2001;Pyrri and KapsanakiGotsi, 2007).…”

Cladosporiumairborne spore incidence in the environmental quality of the Iberian Peninsula

“…In the southern hemisphere, patterns appear to differ: In La Plata, Cladosporium peaks are recorded in February (Mallo et al, 2011), whilst in Santiago de Chile and also in Australia, peak concentrations are logged in April and May (Rutherford et al, 1997;Ibáñez et al, 2001). At many of the stations in the present study, peak spore concentrations were recorded in summer; similar results have been reported by other authors for Salamanca (Perez-Gorjón et al, 2003).…”