Abstract
Airborne cyanobacteria and microalgae are commonly found in the atmosphere and may pose a serious human health risk. This study presents an innovative investigation of the washout efficiency of airborne cyanobacteria and microalgae in the Gulf of Gdańsk (southern Baltic Sea). For the first time, the number and type of cyanobacteria and microalgae were determined in rainwater samples and in air before and after rainfall events. The number of cyanobacteria and microalgae cells in the rainwater samples ranged, depending on, e.g., weather conditions, from 100 cells L–1 to 342.2 × 103 cells L–1. Several harmful taxa, such as Chlorococcum sp., Oocystis sp., Anabaena sp., Leptolyngbya sp., Nodularia sp., Pseudanabaena sp., Synechococcus sp., Synechocystis sp., and Gymnodinium sp., were noted in our study. Washing out by rain is extremely relevant to human health and decreases the chance that people inhale these species and their toxic metabolic products. The greatest diversity of airborne microalgae and cyanobacteria was recorded in July 2019, despite this being the period with the lowest number of cells in rainwater samples. Research conducted in the southern Baltic Sea region confirmed the relationship between the occurrence of cyanobacteria and microalgae in the air and blooms in the sea. It is worth emphasizing that the number of microalgae and cyanobacteria cells decreased by up to 87% after a rainfall event relative to that before the rainfall event. The obtained results significantly increase the level of knowledge about cyanobacteria and microalgae present in the air. By demonstrating the washout efficiencies of cyanobacteria and microalgae, the results indicate the potential of individual taxa to be removed from the atmosphere with rainfall. The findings of this study are helpful for further research on airborne microorganisms and air quality.
Highlights
Airborne cyanobacteria and microalgae are commonly found in the atmosphere and may pose a serious human health risk
The results presented in the publication for the first time demonstrate the numbers of cyanobacteria and microalgae in rain
The number of cyanobacteria and microalgae cells in rainwater samples ranged from 100 cells L–1 to 342 × 1 03 cells L–1
Summary
Airborne cyanobacteria and microalgae are commonly found in the atmosphere and may pose a serious human health risk. The number of cyanobacteria and microalgae cells in the rainwater samples ranged, depending on, e.g., weather conditions, from 100 cells L–1 to 342.2 × 1 03 cells L–1. Several harmful taxa, such as Chlorococcum sp., Oocystis sp., Anabaena sp., Leptolyngbya sp., Nodularia sp., Pseudanabaena sp., Synechococcus sp., Synechocystis sp., and Gymnodinium sp., were noted in our study. Recent studies have demonstrated the negative health impacts of airborne cyanobacteria and microalgae, as well as the toxic compounds they p roduce[4,10,11] The importance of these organisms in the atmosphere is described in detail e lsewhere[3,4,8,9]. The size of the particles removed during atmospheric deposition determines their activity as cloud condensation nuclei, so determining the size of deposited particles is necessary to assess the effective removal from the atmosphere[20]
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