Fungi diversity in PM_2. 5 and PM₁ at the summit of Mt. Tai: abundance, size distribution, and seasonal variation

Caihong Xu (1) , Min Wei (1) , Jianmin Chen (2, 1) , Chao Zhu (1) , Jiarong Li (1) , Ganglin Lv (1) , Xianmang Xu (1) , Lulu Zheng (2) , Guodong Sui (2) , Weijun Li (1) , Bing Chen (1) , Wenxing Wang (1) , Qingzhu Zhang (1) , Aijun Ding (3) , Abdelwahid Mellouki (4)

1 School of Environmental Science and Engineering
2 LAP3 - Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention
3 School of Atmospheric Sciences [Nanjing]
4 ICARE - Institut de Combustion, Aérothermique, Réactivité et Environnement

Fungi are ubiquitous throughout the near-surface atmosphere, where they represent an important component of primary biological aerosol particles. This study combined internal transcribed spacer region sequencing and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to investigate the ambient fungi in fine (PM 2.5 , 50 % cutoff aerodynamic diameter D a50 = 2.5 µm, geometric standard deviation of collection efficiency σ g = 1.2) and submicron (PM 1 , D a50 = 1 µm, σ g = 1.2) particles at the summit of Mt. Tai located in the North China Plain, China. Fungal abundance values were 9.4 × 10 4 and 1.3 × 10 5 copies m −3 in PM 2.5 and PM 1 , respectively. Most of the fungal sequences were from Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, which are known to actively discharge spores into the atmosphere. The fungal community showed a significant seasonal shift across different size fractions according to Metastats analysis and the Kruskal–Wallis rank sum test. The abundance of Glom-erella and Zasmidium increased in larger particles in autumn , whereas Penicillium, Bullera, and Phaeosphaeria increased in smaller particles in winter. Environmental factors, namely Ca 2+ , humidity, and temperature, were found to be crucial for the seasonal variation in the fungal community. This study might serve as an important reference for fungal contribution to primary biological aerosol particles.

Domaines: Physique Atmosphérique et Océanique [physics.ao-ph]; Biodiversité et Ecologie

Caihong Xu, Min Wei, Jianmin Chen, Chao Zhu, Jiarong Li, et al.. Fungi diversity in PM_2. 5 and PM₁ at the summit of Mt. Tai: abundance, size distribution, and seasonal variation. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2017, 17 (18), pp.11247-11260. ⟨10.5194/acp-17-11247-2017⟩. ⟨hal-01785118⟩