Study of airborne fungal spores in Madrid, Spain

Abstract

The concentration of fungal spores in the atmosphere of Madrid was recorded and analyzed for the year 2003. Airborne spores were sampled continuously with a Hirst-type spore trap located on the roof of a building of the School of Pharmacy, at about 8 m above ground level. Correlation between the mean daily spore concentrations and meteorological variables were explored by means of Spearman's correlation analyses. Seventy spore types were identified, of which the most numerous were Cladosporium, Aspergillaceae (conidia), Coprinus, Agaricales (basidiospores), Ustilago (teliospores) and Pleospora (ascospores). These six types of spores represented more than 70% of the total. Cladosporium represented 41% of the total fungal spores, while Ustilago spores, the concentrations of which in May and June exceeded 47% of the monthly total spore count, constituted the second most important group. Spores reached their highest concentrations in the spring months, and in the autumn, mainly in October. A positive significant correlation was found between airborne spore counts and temperature and relative humidity. The results provide a picture of the spectrum of airborne fungal spores present in the atmosphere of Madrid and of the 'peak' periods of their presence. Future studies will provide more detailed information on the seasonal dynamics of the spores most frequently found in the air as well as on the extent to which atmospheric conditions influence their release, dispersion and sedimentation processes.

Global fungal spore emissions, review and synthesis of literature data

“…(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.…”

“…These cases were treated as single measurement points. Beaumont et al (1985) Forest 258 n/a n/a 52 n/a n/a yes Côté et al (2008) Forest 615 492 738 123 98 148 yes Fisar et al (1990) Forest 17 n/a n/a 3 n/a n/a Both methods Gregory (1967) Forest n/a n/a 43 300 n/a n/a 8660 no Gregory (1967) Forest 5250 n/a n/a n/a n/a 1050 no Gregory (1967) Forest n/a 766 n/a 153 n/a n/a no Kasprzyk and Worek (2006) Forest 2144 n/a n/a 429 n/a n/a no Kasprzyk and Worek (2006) Forest 2183 n/a n/a 437 n/a n/a no Kasprzyk and Worek (2006) Forest 2093 n/a n/a 419 n/a n/a no Kasprzyk and Worek (2006) Forest 2146 n/a n/a 429 n/a n/a no Marks et al n/a n/a 113 n/a n/a no Winiwarter et al (2009) Forest 49 n/a n/a 10 n/a n/a Elbert et al (2007) Tropical forest 12 476 4764 20 188 2495 953 4038 no Griffin et al (2001) Tropical forest 45 n/a n/a 9 n/a n/a no Griffin et al (2003) Tropical forest 0 n/a n/a 0 n/a n/a yes Griffin et al (2003) Tropical forest 57 n/a n/a 11 n/a n/a yes Griffin et al (2003) Tropical forest 9 5 20 2 1 4 yes Griffin et al (2003) Tropical forest Prospero et al (2005) Tropical forest 92 n/a n/a 18 n/a n/a yes Prospero et al (2005) Tropical forest 213 n/a n/a 43 n/a n/a yes Pady and Kapica (1955) Tropical forest 37 6 67 7 1 13 both methods Pady and Kapica (1955) Tropical forest 230 170 291 46 24 58 both methods Pady and Kapica (1955) Tropical forest 6 6 6 1 1 1 both methods Pady and Kapica (1955) Tropical forest 44 39 49 9 8 10 both methods Pady and Kapica (1955) Tropical forest 16 n/a n/a 3 n/a n/a both methods Pady and Kapica (1955) Tropical forest 31 n/a n/a 6 n/a n/a both methods Wu et al (2007) Tropical forest 2233 n/a n/a 447 n/a n/a yes Wu et al (2007) Tropical forest 2278 n/a n/a 456 n/a n/a yes Burch and Levetin (2002) Shrub 50 000 n/a n/a 10 000 n/a n/a no Herrero et al (2006) Shrub 609 n/a n/a 122 n/a n/a no DiGiorgio et al (1996) Shrub 92 n/a n/a 18...…”

The contribution of fungal spores and bacteria to regional and global aerosol number and ice nucleation immersion freezing rates

“…To further evaluate fungal spore number concentrations, we synthesised observations of long-term (those with at least a full annual cycle) fungal spore number concentrations from the literature (Ho et al, 2005;Sousa et al, 2009;GrinnGofron et al, 2011;Herrero et al, 2006;Lim et al, 1998;Henriquez et al, 2001;Hasnain et al, 2012). Observations are typically made using 7-day spore traps and microscopic identification and counting techniques; these methods are inherently uncertain and subject to operator error.…”

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).…”