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Puffball fungus Lycoperdon pyriforme sprays its spores. The fruiting body serves to generate an aerosol. In this figure, the puffball is dried-up as it has been stored for 2 years before the experiment, but this does not affect the aerosol characteristics, as shown by the data given hereafter.
Source publication
Advanced air quality control requires real-time monitoring of particulate matter size and concentration, which can only be done using optical instruments. However, such techniques need regular calibration with reference samples. In this study, we suggest that puffball fungus (Lycoperdon pyriforme) spores can be utilized as a reference standard havi...
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There is a lack of knowledge regarding the main factors modulating fungal spore deposition in forest ecosystems. We have described the local spatio-temporal dynamics of fungal spore deposition along a single fruiting season and its relation with fruiting body emergence and rainfall events. Passive spore traps were weekly sampled during autumn and a...
Citations
... Although puffballs belong to an extensive group, the average spore size across the group is 5 lm, and the cloud of spores released from a fruiting body occurs in response to raindrops (Amador et al., 2012) or other types of impacts. Some puffball species have shown to maintain structural characteristics for long periods under controlled dry conditions (up to 2 years) (Zhirnov et al., 2019). Since each fruiting body may release trillions of spores as an explosive discharge (Zhirnov et al., 2019), this characteristic reinforces the explanation of the results in the whole boundary layer, including altitudes as high as 350 m. ...
... Some puffball species have shown to maintain structural characteristics for long periods under controlled dry conditions (up to 2 years) (Zhirnov et al., 2019). Since each fruiting body may release trillions of spores as an explosive discharge (Zhirnov et al., 2019), this characteristic reinforces the explanation of the results in the whole boundary layer, including altitudes as high as 350 m. In a similar way, the ascospore Chaetomium sp. ...
Primary biological aerosol particles (PBAPs) are involved in multiple phenomena ranging from seasonal allergies to pandemic diseases. Furthermore, PBAPs that act as ice nuclei, might interact with cloud physics affecting the formation of hail and, potentially, causing damage to agriculture. These latter dynamics are still unclear, especially due to the lack of knowledge about PBAPs concentration and emission rates. Here we characterized the fungal aerobiology of Arceburgo, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, through ground level and airborne sampling of PBAPs via a hot-air balloon. Total and cultivable fungal spores were collected using personal portable Burkard and a MAS100 sampler respectively during the summer and winter of 2019. In the latter season, daily dynamics were resolved by repeating flights and sampling in the morning and in the afternoon. Both samplers identified a core fungal community (Penicillum/Aspergillus and Cladosporium spp.) that are coupled with local meteorological dynamics and are able to undergo atmospheric transport as indicated by their survival in the night-time residual boundary layer. These results are invaluable in identifying a core set of aerobiological indicators that can be used in future works to unravel PBAPs emission rates on the area of Arceburgo and form a basis to close the gap in knowledge in the interplay between PBAPs and hail formation.
