Bioaerosol Sources

Wéry, Nathalie; Galès, Amandine

doi:10.1002/9781119132318.ch2a

Cited by 13 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Significant changes between pre- and post-flight ground samples assayed over the same surfaces suggest that all aircraft probably shed microorganisms into the atmosphere and inherit new biomass as well (Pfaender and Swatek, 1970 ). But airplane traffic is probably a minor contributor to bioaerosols injected into the global atmosphere compared to more prevalent natural and human emission sources (Wéry et al, 2017 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other explanations for differences reported across the two studies might include seasonal influences, nearby emission sources and meteorological conditions. Longer-lasting studies using the C-20A would help reveal if bioaerosol concentrations shift during spring/summer months due to drier surface biomass getting aerosolized and stronger atmospheric convection patterns (Amato et al, 2017a ; Wéry et al, 2017 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Particle counters or LIDARs would be valuable for making real-time decisions in the air about where to sample and also for establishing stronger correlations between spectroscopic/fluorescent measurements and microorganisms identified later in the laboratory. Ultimately, studies should strive toward more routine and widespread flux measurements, analogous to other globally-tracked gaseous aerosol species (e.g., carbon dioxide, water vapor, ozone, nitrogen compounds) (Wéry et al, 2017 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Airborne Bacteria in Earth's Lower Stratosphere Resemble Taxa Detected in the Troposphere: Results From a New NASA Aircraft Bioaerosol Collector (ABC)

et al. 2018

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Airborne microorganisms in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere remain elusive due to a lack of reliable sample collection systems. To address this problem, we designed, installed, and flight-validated a novel Aircraft Bioaerosol Collector (ABC) for NASA's C-20A that can make collections for microbiological research investigations up to altitudes of 13.7 km. Herein we report results from the first set of science flights—four consecutive missions flown over the United States (US) from 30 October to 2 November, 2017. To ascertain how the concentration of airborne bacteria changed across the tropopause, we collected air during aircraft Ascent/Descent (0.3 to 11 km), as well as sustained Cruise altitudes in the lower stratosphere (~12 km). Bioaerosols were captured on DNA-treated gelatinous filters inside a cascade air sampler, then analyzed with molecular and culture-based characterization. Several viable bacterial isolates were recovered from flight altitudes, including Bacillus sp., Micrococcus sp., Arthrobacter sp., and Staphylococcus sp. from Cruise samples and Brachybacterium sp. from Ascent/Descent samples. Using 16S V4 sequencing methods for a culture-independent analysis of bacteria, the average number of total OTUs was 305 for Cruise samples and 276 for Ascent/Descent samples. Some taxa were more abundant in the flight samples than the ground samples, including OTUs from families Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae and Erysipelotrichaceae as well as the following genera: Clostridium, Mogibacterium, Corynebacterium, Bacteroides, Prevotella, Pseudomonas, and Parabacteroides. Surprisingly, our results revealed a homogeneous distribution of bacteria in the atmosphere up to 12 km. The observation could be due to atmospheric conditions producing similar background aerosols across the western US, as suggested by modeled back trajectories and satellite measurements. However, the influence of aircraft-associated bacterial contaminants could not be fully eliminated and that background signal was reported throughout our dataset. Considering the tremendous engineering challenge of collecting biomass at extreme altitudes where contamination from flight hardware remains an ever-present issue, we note the utility of using the stratosphere as a proving ground for planned life detection missions across the solar system.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Airborne Bacteria in Earth's Lower Stratosphere Resemble Taxa Detected in the Troposphere: Results From a New NASA Aircraft Bioaerosol Collector (ABC)

et al. 2018

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“…In addition to the direct physical effects of vegetation and soil on air masses, land‐use changes also alters the sources and emission (Morris et al, 2014 ; Suski et al, 2018 ) of aerosols, including bioaerosols that consist of microorganisms, biological propagules, and organic detritus (Wery et al, 2018 ). Aerosols have important direct and indirect effects on climate, and the indirect roles of bioaerosols emitted from terrestrial environments may have a role in the feedback between the land and atmospheric system (Morris et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatic and landscape changes as drivers of environmental feedback that influence rainfall frequency in the United States

Moore

Martinetti

Bigg³

et al. 2021

Global Change Biology

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By the late 15th century, North America was inhabited by ~7 million humans, and their activities were responsible for substantially modifying native land cover (Denevan, 1992). The ensuing period of European colonization and population expansion resulted in the conversion of large expanses of forests, grassland, and shrubland into roads, settlements, and agricultural ecosystems (Goldewijk et al., 2011). By 1850, the human population in North America was ~23 million, with westward expansion in the United States after 1860 increasing the number of farms to six million over a span of 20 years (Shannon, 1989

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“…Bacteria populations aloft represent a mixture of bacteria that were emitted from different ecosystems and subsequently mixed (Burrows et al, 2009b). Despite these 85 mixing processes, there are bacteria types that can be considered characteristic for each ecosystem (Wéry et al, 2017). Table 1 lists cell concentrations as published by Burrows et al (2009b) complemented by some more recent measurements.…”

Section: Introduction 25mentioning

confidence: 99%

The global impact of bacterial processes on carbon mass

Ervens¹,

Amato²

2019

Preprint

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Abstract. Many recent studies have identified biological material as a major fraction of ambient aerosol loading. A small fraction of these bioaerosols consist of bacteria that have attracted a lot of attention due to their role in cloud formation and adverse health effects. Current atmospheric models consider bacteria as inert quantities and neglect cell growth and multiplication. We provide here a framework to estimate the production of secondary biological aerosol (SBA) mass in clouds by microbial cell growth and multiplication. The best estimate of SBA formation rates of 3.7&#8201;Tg&#8201;yr-1 are comparable to previous model estimates of the primary emission of bacteria into the atmosphere, and thus might represent a previously unrecognized source of biological aerosol material. We discuss in detail the large uncertainties associated with our estimates based on the rather sparse available data on bacteria abundance, growth conditions and properties. Additionally, the loss of water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) due to microbial processes in cloud droplets has been suggested to compete under some conditions with WSOC loss by chemical (OH) reactions. Our estimates suggest that microbial and chemical processes might lead to a global loss of WSOC of 8&#8211;11&#8201;Tg&#8201;yr-1 and 8&#8211;20&#8201;Tg&#8201;yr-1, respectively. While also this estimate is very approximate, the analysis of the uncertainties and ranges of all parameters gives hints about the conditions under which microbial processes cannot be neglected as organic carbon sinks in clouds. Our estimates also highlight the urgent needs for more data concerning microbial concentrations, fluxes and activity in the atmosphere to evaluate the role of bacterial processes as net aerosol sink or source on various spatial and temporal scales.

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Bioaerosol Sources

Cited by 13 publications

References 67 publications

Airborne Bacteria in Earth's Lower Stratosphere Resemble Taxa Detected in the Troposphere: Results From a New NASA Aircraft Bioaerosol Collector (ABC)

Airborne Bacteria in Earth's Lower Stratosphere Resemble Taxa Detected in the Troposphere: Results From a New NASA Aircraft Bioaerosol Collector (ABC)

Climatic and landscape changes as drivers of environmental feedback that influence rainfall frequency in the United States

The global impact of bacterial processes on carbon mass

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