Abstract
Spores of the genus Alternaria belong to one of the most prevailing constituents of the air in all regions of the world. They form infectious inoculum of numerous plant species as well as severe inhaled allergies. The aim of this study was to compare the biological pollution with Alternaria spores of the air of 12 cities located in central and eastern Europe. The experiment was done in 2010 and it covered the territory of Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Poland (PL) and Ukraine (UA). The spores were counted using an identical method and standard equipment (7-day Lanzoni volumetric sampler) followed by extensive statistical calculations. The timing of the day of maximum concentration changed mainly along the N-S direction and had a positive correlation with latitude. The most important factor determining the increase in Alternaria spore concentration was the temperature, whereas other weather parameters were not related or of low significance. Regardless of geographical location, the first phase of the season (0–0.9 % of Alternaria spores in the air) was the longest (up to 60 days) and the last (97.5 to 99 %) was the shortest (22 days or less). The means of daily concentrations of Alternaria spores ranged from 11 spores m−3 in Klaipeda (LT, Baltic Sea coast) to 187 in Poznan (west PL, agricultural plain). The threshold value of 80 spores m−3 that triggers the first allergy symptoms was exceeded in 8 to 86 days (Vinnitsa, UA, temperate continental, forest-steppes region). There were considerable differences between the highest number of spores per cubic metre of air, varying from 139 in the north (Klaipeda, LT) to 2,295 in central west (Poznan, PL). The biological pollution by Alternaria spores in several places of central and eastern Europe was high; the number of days exceeding the threshold value of 300 spores m−3 connected with serious health problems of atopic people ranged from 0 to 1 on the north (LV, LT) to 29 in central west (Poznan, PL).
Highlights
The genus Alternaria Nees ex Wallroth belongs to the phylum Ascomycota
We present the first set of data of this kind ever collected; no data from Latvia were available prior to this study, and data on monitoring in Lithuania and Ukraine were very scarce
Similar trend was observed in the maximum concentration of Alternaria spores in air samples
Summary
The genus Alternaria Nees ex Wallroth belongs to the phylum Ascomycota (www.mycobank.org) It comprises cosmopolitan dark-coloured fungi of the class Dothideomycetes occurring in all climatic zones. Woudenberg et al (2013) employed nucleotide sequence data from fragments of the 18S nuclear DNA, 28S nuclear DNA, internal transcribed spacer, glyceraldehyde 3phosphate dehydrogenase, RNA polymerase II (RPB2) and translation elongation factor 1 alpha (TEF-1α) gene regions to redefine species identification within the genus. On this basis, the Alternaria species complex contains 24 internal clades, referred to as sections, and six monotypic lineages. Consequent upon this study, the genera Allewia, Brachycladium, Chalastospora, Chmelia, Crivellia, Embellisia, Lewia, Nimbya, Sinomyces, Teretispora, Ulocladium, Undifilum and Ybotromyces are proposed as synonyms of Alternaria, further widening the results of de Hoog and Horre (2002) that was based on ITS sequences only
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