Correlating bioaerosol load with PM2.5 and PM10cf concentrations: a comparison between natural desert and urban-fringe aerosols

Abstract

Seasonal allergies and microbial mediated respiratory diseases, can coincide with elevated particulate matter concentrations, often when dry desert soils are disturbed. In addition to effects from the allergens, allergic and asthmatic responses may be enhanced when chemical and biological constituents of particulate matter (PM) are combined together. Because of these associations and also the recent regulatory and health-related interests of monitoring PM2.5, separately from total PM10, the biological loading between the fine ( d p <2.5 μm) and coarse (2.5 μm< d p <10 μm) size ranges of PM was studied. To investigate spatial and seasonal differences of biological loading within PM, 24-h fine and coarse PM fractions were collected at a natural desert area and an urban fringe site located in the expanding Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area during winter, spring, and summer seasons. Elemental carbon and inorganic ions were measured to determine the relative influence that anthropogenic sources, such as traffic, had on the aerosol composition. Total protein concentration was used as a surrogate measure of total biological concentration within the PM2.5 and PM10cf (coarse fraction) size ranges. In all seasons, coarse protein at the urban fringe was consistently higher than the natural desert. When high-anthropogenic PM events were separated from the data set, a positive significant correlation ( p <0.05) was found between protein and coarse PM fraction, but not in the fine fraction. An 18S rDNA clone library was developed from PM10 aerosol samples to characterize the type and phylogenetic diversity of airborne eukaryotic (non-bacterial) microorganisms existing in ambient PM for the urban fringe and natural desert. Both sites contained allergenic organisms. Some groups of eukaryotic species were exclusive to only one of the sites. The natural desert contained more species of Basidiomycota fungi and the urban fringe contained more species of green plants, suggesting that the biological loading at each site was different due to local influences.