AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Characterization of Atmospheric Biological Particles Collected at the Storm Peak Laboratory
VERA SAMBUROVA, Alison Murray, Anna Gannet Hallar, Lynn Mazzoleni, Douglas Lowenthal, Barbara Zielinska, Desert Research Institute
Abstract Number: 467 Working Group: Bioaerosols: Characterization and Environmental Impact
Abstract Recent studies have shown that biological particles, which include bacteria, fungal spores, and plant pollen, may represent a significant portion of the organic atmospheric particulate matter. Airborne microbial cells have strong effects on human health and can cause allergic respiratory diseases such as allergenic asthma. In addition to their health effects, bacteria, fungal spores, and plant pollen can influence significantly physical and chemical properties of atmospheric organic aerosols and therefore atmospheric processes. To our knowledge, ambient airborne biological particles have received relatively little attention in atmospheric sciences. Based on our literature research, only a few studies have measured ambient airborne biological species and the results of these studies are limited and vary substantially.
Aerosol samples collected at the Storm Peak Laboratory on Mt. Werner, Steamboat, CO (3210 m AMSL) were extracted, combined into six composites and analyzed for chemical and physical properties with different analytical techniques such as ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry (formula assignment of individual organic compounds), ion chromatography (quantitative analysis of low molecular weight organic acids), gas chromatography mass spectrometry (quantitative analysis of sugars, sugar alcohols, lignin derivatives, and organic acids), H-NMR (characterization of the main functional groups), etc. In this study, the collected samples have been characterized for biological species. The diversity and relative abundances of ambient atmospheric bioaerosols (e.g. fungal spores, plant pollen, etc.) were analyzed using electron and fluorescence microscopy. In order to identify and specify biological species, including bacteria, fungal spores, and pollen, DNA analysis based on rRNA genes sequencing technique have been used. Finally, comparison of the relative abundance of biological aerosols with individual organic species determined in the collected PM2.5 samples will be presented.