Culturable Airborne Fungi of Urban, Forest and Coastal Areas of the Kola Peninsula

Abstract

The quantitative and qualitative indicators of airborne fungi of different areas on the territory of the Kola Peninsula, which is part of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, were evaluated. The air above the coast was the cleanest, the number of culturable airborne fungi varied from 11 to 75 CFU/m3 compared to the 55–260 CFU/m3 in the forest and 350 CFU/m3 in the city. In the urban environment, there was an increase in the species diversity of fungi, the appearance of new species from genera Alternaria, Torula, Aspergillus, Paecilomyces, Penicillium, Oidiodendron, Pseudogymnoascus, Acremonium, and Acaulium, that are not found in the forest and coastal areas. In the city, the changes in the species structure of airborne fungi community were revealed. On the coast, Penicillium decumbens, P. raistrickii dominated; in the forest, P. raistrickii, Aureobasidium pullulans and fungi with white sterile mycelium dominated; in the city, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Aspergillus fumigatus, Penicillium glabrum prevailed. In the city, the increase (up to 60%) in the portion of pathogenic, allergenic and toxigenic fungi compared to the forest and coastal areas was found.