Recently,the research team of Bioaerosol in the College of Atmospheric sciences of Lanzhou University has published its research result titled “Characterization of Atmospheric Bioaerosols Along the Transport Pathway of Asian Dust During the Dust-Bioaerosol 2016 Campaign” in the world-class journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP). The first author of the article is Tang Kai, a direct doctoral student of 2016, and the corresponding author is associate professor Huang Zhongwei. It is is the first time for Lanzhou University to publish research results on atmospheric bioaerosols.
About 1 to 3 billion tons of sand dust enter the atmosphere every year, accounting for about half of the total tropospheric aerosols. About 800 million tons of sand dust enter the atmosphere every year in Asia, mainly from sources such as the Taklimakan Desert and the Gobi. Foreign scholars have found that dust can carry a large number of microorganisms. These dust events across the mainland and oceans input a large amount of microorganisms and pollen into the atmosphere, and expand the geographical distribution of organisms through long-distance propagation, thus impose influence on downstream atmospheric environment, public health, ecosystems, and climate. However, little research has been done on the sources, transmission, transformation and effects of dust-bioaerosols.
In view of this, our bio-aerosol research team has launched “the Dust-Bioaerosol Campaign (DuBi Project)” in northern China since 2014. The plan has been carried out in 2014, 2016 and 2017 respectively, focusing on the characteristics of bioaerosols in the dust transmission path in northern China, hoping to explore the transmission rule of dust-bioaerosol and its impact on ecology and climate and other key scientific issues.
Tang Kai’s paper mainly introduces the latest research results of the 2016 DuBi observation program. The air sample is collected on the filter by setting a plurality of sampling points on the dust transmission path, and then analyze it by means of fluorescence microscopy and DNA extraction and sequencing. The study found that the dust from the Gobi Desert in China and Mongolia carries a large number and a large variety of microorganisms, which may have potential effects on the downstream atmospheric environment, ecological environment, human health and even weather and climate.
The publication of this achievement indicates that the bio-aerosol research team of Lanzhou University has mastered the core technologies such as bio-aerosol sampling technology and DNA extraction and sequencing, laying a good foundation for future research on key scientific issues.
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics is an internationally renowned journal in the field of atmospheric science (SCI-1) with an impact factor of IF=5.318 (nearly 5 years IF=5.896). The research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41575017, 41375031) and the National Fund's Innovation Research Group Project (41521004).
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Bioaerosols mainly refer to various biomass particles suspended in the air, including bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microbial particles and active particles (pollen, spores, etc.) and plasmids released into the air by living organisms (Burge, 1995; Ariya and Amyot, 2004; Grinshpun and Clark, 2005). Bioaerosols are an important component of atmospheric aerosols and have potential and great effects on human health, the atmosphere, ecosystems and climate change.
Bioaerosols have potential and great effects on human health. Airborne bacteria, fungi, viruses and other organisms aerosol particles widely consist in the bottom layer of the atmosphere, and can diffuse and spread in the atmosphere, causing human respiratory infections, asthma, skin allergies, chronic lung disease, and urgent or chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease as well as animal and plant diseases, which will pose a serious threat to human health and affect air quality (Burger, 1990; Molesworth et al., 2002; Ichinose et al., 2005; Rodó et al., 2011).
Bioaerosols can also indirectly affect global climate change and have potentially great effects on atmospheric chemistry and physical processes (Qi Jianhua and Gao Huiwang, 2006). Studies have found that bioaerosols can act as ice cores and cloud condensation nuclei (Franc and DeMott, 1998; Sun and Ariya, 2006; Mahler et al., 2007) and can alter the properties of other CCNs (such as organic aerosols). It affects the amount of clouds and indirectly affects global climate change. The study found that (Amato, 2012) can form a giant nucleus (Giant CCN) due to the large particle size of some bioaerosols, which ultimately accelerates the development of precipitation clouds. Clove pseudomonas is recognized as the most active species of ice nuclei. It has been found to catalyze at -2 °C to form ice crystals (Chang-Chien & Caldwell, 1974).
Text: Huang Zhongwei
Picture: Tang Kai
Editor: Zhao Yang
Source: the School of Atmospheric Sciences
