AAAR 36th Annual Conference October 16 - October 20, 2017 Raleigh Convention Center Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Abstract View
Atmospheric Sampling of Microorganisms above a Freshwater Lake with an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV)
CRAIG POWERS, Regina Hanlon, Linsey Marr, David Schmale, Virginia Tech
Abstract Number: 290 Working Group: Bioaerosols
Abstract Ice-nucleating microorganisms, such as the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae, are ubiquitous in aquatic environments and may influence cloud formation and precipitation processes. Little is known about the aerosolization and transport of microbes from aquatic environments. We designed and deployed a bioaerosol-sampling system onboard an unmanned surface vehicle (USV, a remotely-operated boat) to collect microbes and monitor particle sizes in the atmosphere above a large freshwater lake in Virginia, USA. The bioaerosol-sampling system included a 3D-printed impinger, optical particle counters, and a weather station. This system was deployed on a USV over the course of several days in May of 2017 at Claytor Lake, Virginia, USA. Samples were then processed and plated on selective media to estimate concentrations of culturable bacteria 1m above the surface of the lake. Cultured microbes are being identified based on DNA sequences of portions of the 16S rDNA gene. Future work aims to understand the distribution of microbes within and above freshwater aquatic environments, and their potential association with cloud formation and precipitation processes.