Microbiological and meteorological analysis of two Australian dust storms in April 2009

Lim, Natalie; Munday, Chris I; Allison, Gwen E.; O'Loingsigh, Tadhg; Deckker, Patrick De; Tapper, Nigel

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.10.030

Cited by 34 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Charles Darwin and his friend Christian Ehrenberg showed that airborne dust contains organic material (Darwin, 1846). Microbes that hitchhike on desert dust are now known to spread across the globe (Griffin et al, 2003a, b;Kellog et al, 2004;Prospero et al, 2005;Kellogg and Griffin, 2006;Weir-Brush et al, 2004;Lim et al, 2011). Gorbushina et al (2007) used geochemical methods to show that the Darwin/ Ehrenberg dust probably originated from the Sahara.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial hitchhikers on intercontinental dust: catching a lift in Chad

et al. 2012

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Ancient mariners knew that dust whipped up from deserts by strong winds travelled long distances, including over oceans. Satellite remote sensing revealed major dust sources across the Sahara. Indeed, the Bodélé Depression in the Republic of Chad has been called the dustiest place on earth. We analysed desert sand from various locations in Chad and dust that had blown to the Cape Verde Islands. High throughput sequencing techniques combined with classical microbiological methods showed that the samples contained a large variety of microbes well adapted to the harsh desert conditions. The most abundant bacterial groupings in four different phyla included: (a) Firmicutes—Bacillaceae, (b) Actinobacteria—Geodermatophilaceae, Nocardiodaceae and Solirubrobacteraceae, (c) Proteobacteria—Oxalobacteraceae, Rhizobiales and Sphingomonadaceae, and (d) Bacteroidetes—Cytophagaceae. Ascomycota was the overwhelmingly dominant fungal group followed by Basidiomycota and traces of Chytridiomycota, Microsporidia and Glomeromycota. Two freshwater algae (Trebouxiophyceae) were isolated. Most predominant taxa are widely distributed land inhabitants that are common in soil and on the surfaces of plants. Examples include Bradyrhizobium spp. that nodulate and fix nitrogen in Acacia species, the predominant trees of the Sahara as well as Herbaspirillum (Oxalobacteraceae), a group of chemoorganotrophic free-living soil inhabitants that fix nitrogen in association with Gramineae roots. Few pathogenic strains were found, suggesting that African dust is not a large threat to public health.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial hitchhikers on intercontinental dust: catching a lift in Chad

et al. 2012

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“…Culturable UV-tolerant bacterial strains were also isolated in the previous studies carried on near grounds in the arrival areas of Asian, African and Australian dust Hua et al, 2007;Lim et al, 2011). However, these studies could not omit the background or bacteria from local sources, meaning that previous results could contain not only the compositions of bacteria transported in dust but also some few bacterial compositions aerosolized from near sampling sites.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

UV-Tolerant Culturable Bacteria in an Asian Dust Plume Transported over the East China Sea

Hara

Zhang

Matsusaki

et al. 2015

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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Airborne bacteria are dispersed along with Asian dust and have various influences on atmospheric characteristics, downwind ecosystems, and public health. In this study, aircraft observations were conducted during Asian dust passage and non-dust conditions over the East China Sea in December 2010, and the composition of culturable bacteria within the dust was investigated using culture-based gene analysis. The 16S rRNA gene analysis revealed that the 34 cultured strains isolated from the transported dust could be grouped into Bacillales and Actinomycetales. Highly tolerant endospore-forming bacteria (25 isolates) were predominant in the composition. On the other hand, all non-endospore-forming bacteria (9 isolates) were gram-positive bacteria with high guanine and cytosine contents, which have substantial ultraviolet (UV) resistance. Thus, the isolated culturable bacteria were strains having some tolerance for exposure to UV radiation. Although the atmosphere is an extreme environment for bacterial survival, Asian dust can facilitate atmospheric dispersion of culturable bacteria that are resistant to the harsh ambient air environment.

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“…[11,12] Moreover, the deposition of dust on irrigation canals and rivers affects the water quality of streams, lakes and oceans. [13][14][15][16][17] A study by Lim et al [18] highlighted the contribution of dust events to the distribution of microbes in the environment from two dust storms in Australia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unusual Sydney dust storm and its mineralogical and organic characteristics

et al. 2012

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Environmental context. In 2009, at the end of the longest drought period ever recorded in Australia, a major dust storm blanketed the cities of Sydney and Brisbane for more than 24 h. The source of the dust was inner New South Wales and South Australia, where large scale open-cut mining occurs together with agricultural practices. We report results of extensive mineralogical and chemical analyses of the dust, and discuss their significance in terms of the dust origins and potential human health risks.Abstract. In a 24-h period from 23 to 24 September 2009, a dust storm passed over Sydney, Australia that produced a red sky and reduced the visibility to a few metres. It was Sydney's worst dust storm since 1942. During this period, the PM 10 (particles measuring 10 mm or less) value jumped from 50 to 11 800 mg m À3 . The dust storm was sampled and its mineralogical and organic contents were analysed. Four major particle sizes (0.6, 4.5, 9.3 and 20 mm) were observed in the dust. A multimodal particle distribution indicated a long range of dust transport. Mineralogical analysis showed that the particles were mainly composed of crustal elemental oxides of Al and Si. The ratio of Al/Si was 0.39 and the organic content was 10.6 %, which was found to be enriched with humic-type substances. The high Al/Si ratio (.0.3) indicated that the dust originated from desert land whereas the high organic content indicated that the particles were also derived from eroded agricultural land. A fluorescence spectroscopic study on the organic matter at excitation and emission wavelengths of 245-265 and 330-350 nm indicated that biohazardous substances were unlikely to be present in the dust.

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Microbiological and meteorological analysis of two Australian dust storms in April 2009

Cited by 34 publications

References 33 publications

Microbial hitchhikers on intercontinental dust: catching a lift in Chad

Microbial hitchhikers on intercontinental dust: catching a lift in Chad

UV-Tolerant Culturable Bacteria in an Asian Dust Plume Transported over the East China Sea

Unusual Sydney dust storm and its mineralogical and organic characteristics

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