Sugars as source indicators of biogenic organic carbon in aerosols collected above the Howland Experimental Forest, Maine

Abstract

Bulk aerosols (> 1 μm) were collected continuously above the canopy at the Howland Experimental Forest, Maine, USA from May to October 2002. Each sample integrated over an approximately two-week period. Mono-and disaccharide sugars were extracted using a microscale technique and were analyzed as their TMS derivatives by GC-MS. Concentrations of total aerosol sugars ranged from 10 to 180 ng m -3 . Glucose was the most abundant sugar (40-75% of the total sugars). The monosaccharides arabinose, fructose, galactose, mannose, arabitol and mannitol, and the disaccharides sucrose, maltose and mycose (aka trehalose) were also present in lower concentrations. The sugar composition in the aerosols varied seasonally. Fructose and sucrose were prevalent in early spring and decreased in relative abundance as the growing season progressed. Sugar polyols (arabitol and mannitol) and the disaccharide mycose (a fungal metabolite) were more prevalent in autumn during the period of leaf senescence. The changes in the sugar composition in the aerosol samples appear to reflect the seasonality of sugar production and utilization by the ecosystem. Plant waxes were present as significant components also indicating an input from biogenic background.Smoke plumes from Quebec forest fires passed over the Howland site in early July 2002.Levoglucosan, a biomarker of biomass burning, increased by an order of magnitude in the aerosol samples collected during this time. Glucose, mannose, arabinose, galactose, and also, plant waxes increased in concentration by factors of 2-5 in the smoke-impacted samples, indicating that wildfires enhance atmospheric emissions of uncombusted organic compounds. In contrast, concentrations of fructose, sugar polyols and disaccharides were not significantly higher in the smoke-impacted samples and indicated that biomass burning was not a significant source of these compounds in the aerosols.

Anthropogenic and biogenic organic compounds in summertime fine aerosols (PM2.5) in Beijing, China

“…For example, Bauer et al (2008) reported that arabitol and mannitol are tracers for the quantification of airborne fungal spores. Trehalose is present in a variety of microorganisms (fungi, bacteria and yeast), a few higher plants and invertebrates (Medeiros et al, 2006). In the present study, the concentrations of these three tracers at Yufa were higher than at PKU (Fig.…”

Diurnal variations of polar organic tracers in summer forest aerosols: A case study of a Quercus and Picea mixed forest in Hokkaido, Japan

“…Primary saccharides are an important class of organic compounds in atmospheric aerosols (Medeiros et al, 2006;Wan and Yu, 2007;Yttri et al, 2007;Fu et al, 2008). They are completely water-soluble and thus contribute to WSOC in aerosol.…”

“…For example, mannitol, together with arabitol, has been reported as tracers for the airborne fungal spores (Bauer et al, 2008). Trehalose is present in a large variety of microorganisms (fungi, bacteria and yeast), and a few higher plants and invertebrates (Medeiros et al, 2006).…”

“…Total concentrations of primary saccharides ranged from 28 to 93 ng m -3 (71 ng m -3 ) with the predominance of arabitol and glucose (Table 1). They have been used as tracers for primary biological aerosol particles (Graham et al, 2003;Medeiros et al, 2006;Bauer et al, 2008) and soil resuspension (Simoneit et al, 2004). Resuspended soil particles contain biological materials including pollen, fungi and bacteria.…”

Aerosol and snow transfer processes: An investigation on the behavior of water-soluble organic compounds and ionic species

“…Bioaerosol (bacteria, fungi, viruses, pollen, cell debris) contains primary saccharides such as glucose and sucrose (Medeiros et al, 2006). Arabitol and mannitol can be used as tracers for airborne fungal spores (Bauer et al, 2008), and are also the main carbohydrates in lichens and bacteria (Medeiros et al, 2006).…”