diversity Article Land Use Effects on Airborne Bacterial Communities Are Evident in Both Near-Surface and Higher-Altitude Air Allison M. Spring 1, Kenneth D. Domingue 2 , Thomas V. Kerber 2, Margaret M. Mooney 2, Rebecca L. Hale 3, Kristina M. Lemmer 2 and Kathryn M. Docherty 1,* 1 Department of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49006, USA;
[email protected] 2 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49006, USA;
[email protected] (K.D.D.);
[email protected] (T.V.K.);
[email protected] (M.M.M.);
[email protected] (K.M.L.) 3 Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID 83209, USA;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: Land use influences the composition of near-surface airborne bacterial communities, and bacteria can be transported through the atmosphere at global scales. The atmosphere mixes vertically, but rigorously assessing whether the effects of land use on atmospheric communities extends to higher altitudes requires examining communities from multiple altitudes collected at a stable location and timeframe. In this study, we collected near-surface (<2 m) and higher-altitude (150 m) air samples from three sites in an agricultural/developed location and a forested/undeveloped location. We used bacterial 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to compare communities and predict functionality by altitude. Higher-altitude and near-surface communities did not differ in composition within each Citation: Spring, A.M.; Domingue, location. Communities collected above the undeveloped location were equally variable at both K.D.; Kerber, T.V.; Mooney, M.M.; altitudes; higher-altitude samples from the developed location predominantly contained Firmicutes Hale, R.L.; Lemmer, K.M.; Docherty, K.M.