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Diversity
Special Issues
Microbial Ecology in the Atmosphere
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Microbial Ecology in the Atmosphere

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Microbial Diversity and Culture Collections".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2020) | Viewed by 2921

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Pierre Amato

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Guest Editor
Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, Institut de Chimie de Clermont-Ferrand, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Interests: biological aerosols; microbial biodiversity; taxonomy; functional diversity; metabolism
Dr. Florent Rossi

E-Mail
Guest Editor
Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, Institut de Chimie de Clermont-Ferrand, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Interests: microbial ecology; functional diversity; aquatic ecosystems; enzymatic activity; ecotoxicology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Microorganisms are spread through the air, to high altitudes and over long distances. The multiple emission sources of airborne microbes lead to complex bacterial and fungal assemblages among aerosols, in clouds and in precipitation. These are thus highly variable in space and time, but their variability and links with the surface remain poorly understood. Furthermore, although cell survival is impaired during atmospheric transport, a fraction of the microbial community has been demonstrated to remain alive and maintain metabolic activity. Hence, in addition to raising obvious epidemiological issues and ecological questions, the presence of living microbes in the air may influence physical and chemical processes. Regarding microbial ecology, it is likely that not all microorganisms are equal in atmospheric transport: some can be more prone to aerosolization and/or deposition than others, particular functional traits could be linked with higher survival and maintenance in the atmosphere, etc.

In this Issue, in order to better understand microbial composition and activity in the atmosphere and their drivers, we welcome contributions about the taxonomic and functional diversities of airborne communities, their links with surface characteristics and meteorological factors, their metabolic activity and functioning in the atmosphere, or their functional traits related with maintenance, acclimation and survival. Studies about the evaluation of sanitary and environmental impacts of airborne microbes are also welcome, as well as methodologies and tools developed to study atmospheric microbes in their natural environment or under laboratory conditions.

Dr. Pierre Amato
Dr. Florent Rossi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • atmosphere
  • taxonomical and functional microbial biodiversity
  • microbial activity
  • aerial dispersion
  • surface–atmosphere exchanges

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 2695 KiB  
Article
Land Use Effects on Airborne Bacterial Communities Are Evident in Both Near-Surface and Higher-Altitude Air
by Allison M. Spring, Kenneth D. Domingue, Thomas V. Kerber, Margaret M. Mooney, Rebecca L. Hale, Kristina M. Lemmer and Kathryn M. Docherty
Diversity 2021, 13(2), 85; https://doi.org/10.3390/d13020085 - 18 Feb 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2481
Abstract
Land use influences the composition of near-surface airborne bacterial communities, and bacteria can be transported through the atmosphere at global scales. The atmosphere mixes vertically, but rigorously assessing whether the effects of land use on atmospheric communities extends to higher altitudes requires examining [...] Read more.
Land use influences the composition of near-surface airborne bacterial communities, and bacteria can be transported through the atmosphere at global scales. The atmosphere mixes vertically, but rigorously assessing whether the effects of land use on atmospheric communities extends to higher altitudes requires examining communities from multiple altitudes collected at a stable location and timeframe. In this study, we collected near-surface (<2 m) and higher-altitude (150 m) air samples from three sites in an agricultural/developed location and a forested/undeveloped location. We used bacterial 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to compare communities and predict functionality by altitude. Higher-altitude and near-surface communities did not differ in composition within each location. Communities collected above the undeveloped location were equally variable at both altitudes; higher-altitude samples from the developed location predominantly contained Firmicutes and were less variable than near-surface samples. We also compared airborne taxa to those present in soil and snow. Communities from higher-altitude samples above the developed location contained fewer overlapping taxa with soil and snow sources, and overlapping Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) among the three sources differed by location. Our results suggest that land use affects the composition of both near-surface and higher-altitude airborne bacterial communities and, therefore, may influence broad bacterial dispersal patterns. This small-scale pilot study provides a framework for simultaneously examining local and regional airborne microbial communities that can be applied to larger studies or studies using different types of samplers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Ecology in the Atmosphere)
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