Microbial Connections Between Water Quality and Air Quality
Aerosols originate from water and land surfaces and ultimately determine the quality of the air we breathe. Our lab looks closely at the microbial (fungal, bacterial, and viral) life populating the air in coastal areas. We study urban and rural sites, focusing on aerosol creation from waters experiencing sewage contamination, algal blooms, and other forms of microbial pollution. This work expands our understanding of inter-system microbial connections, since aquatic bacteria are moving to land in aerosols and vice-versa. This connection also serves to expand our appreciation for the importance of maintaining high levels of water quality, since what’s in the water can also be in our air.
Relevant Publications:
“Onshore Wind Speed Modulates Microbial Aerosols along an Urban Waterfront”, Atmosphere, 2017.
“Challenges to Managing Microbial Fecal Pollution in Coastal Environments: Extra-Enteric Ecology and Microbial Exchange Among Water, Sediment, and Air”, Current Pollution Reports, 2017.
“Culturable bioaerosols along an urban waterfront are primarily associated with coarse particles“, PeerJ, 2016.
Relevant Research Activities:
Abstract accepted for manuscript in “Extreme Microbiology: the Atmospheric Biota” special section of Frontiers in Microbiology, 2017.
Session accepted for Association for the Science of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) Summer 2018 Meeting (Greg O’Mullan, Andy Juhl, Eli Dueker) — SS77: MICROBIAL EXCHANGE AND ECOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS AMONG SEDIMENT, WATER, AND AIR: EMERGING COMPLEXITIES IN MANAGING AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTS
