Aerobiology Over Antarctica – a New Initiative for Atmospheric Ecology
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Institute of Transport Research:Publications PERSPECTIVE published: 16 February 2016 doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.00016 Aerobiology Over Antarctica – A New Initiative for Atmospheric Ecology David A. Pearce1,2*, Irina A. Alekhina3,AleksTerauds4, Annick Wilmotte5, Antonio Quesada6, Arwyn Edwards7, Aurelien Dommergue8, Birgit Sattler9, Byron J. Adams10, Catarina Magalhães11,Wan-LoyChu12,MaggieC.Y.Lau13 , Craig Cary14 , David J. Smith15, Diana H. Wall16 , Gabriela Eguren17, Gwynneth Matcher18, James A. Bradley19, Jean-Pierre de Vera20 , Josef Elster21,22 , Kevin A. Hughes2, Lewis Cuthbertson23, Liane G. Benning24 , Nina Gunde-Cimerman25, Peter Convey2, Soon Gyu Hong26, Steve B. Pointing27, Vivian H. Pellizari28 and Warwick F. Vincent29 1 Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, 2 British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK, 3 Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 4 Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, TAS, Australia, 5 University of Liege, Liège, Belgium, 6 Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 7 Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK, 8 Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France, 9 University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria, 10 Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA, 11 Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal, 12 International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 13 Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA, 14 University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand, 15 NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Edited by: Field, CA, USA, 16 Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA, 17 Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay, Graeme W. Nicol, 18 Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, 19 University of Bristol, Bristol, UK, 20 German Aerospace Center, Cologne, Université de Lyon, France Germany, 21 University of South Bohemia, Ceskéˇ Budejovice,ˇ Czech Republic, 22 Institute of Botany of the Academy of Reviewed by: Science of the Czech Republic, Tˇrebon,ˇ Czech Republic, 23 Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, 24 Helmholtz 25 Steffen Kolb, Centre Potsdam GFZ, German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, 26 27 Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Slovenia, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New 28 29 Landscape Research, Germany Zealand, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Laval University, Québec, QC, Canada Charles K. Lee, University of Waikato, New Zealand The role of aerial dispersal in shaping patterns of biodiversity remains poorly understood, *Correspondence: mainly due to a lack of coordinated efforts in gathering data at appropriate temporal and David A. Pearce spatial scales. It has been long known that the rate of dispersal to an ecosystem can [email protected] significantly influence ecosystem dynamics, and that aerial transport has been identified Specialty section: as an important source of biological input to remote locations. With the considerable This article was submitted to effort devoted in recent decades to understanding atmospheric circulation in the south- Terrestrial Microbiology, a section of the journal polar region, a unique opportunity has emerged to investigate the atmospheric ecology Frontiers in Microbiology of Antarctica, from regional to continental scales. This concept note identifies key Received: 27 July 2015 questions in Antarctic microbial biogeography and the need for standardized sampling Accepted: 10 January 2016 Published: 16 February 2016 and analysis protocols to address such questions. A consortium of polar aerobiologists Citation: is established to bring together researchers with a common interest in the airborne Pearce DA, Alekhina IA, Terauds A, dispersion of microbes and other propagules in the Antarctic, with opportunities for Wilmotte A, Quesada A, Edwards A, comparative studies in the Arctic. Dommergue A, Sattler B, Adams BJ, Magalhães C, Chu W-L, Lau MCY, Keywords: aerobiology, Antarctica, metadata, biodiversity, biogeography Cary C, Smith DJ, Wall DH, Eguren G, Matcher G, Bradley JA, de Vera J-P, Elster J, Hughes KA, Cuthbertson L, INTRODUCTION Benning LG, Gunde-Cimerman N, Convey P, Hong SG, Pointing SB, Aerial dispersal plays an essential role in shaping patterns of biodiversity (e.g., Womack et al., Pellizari VH and Vincent WF (2016) 2010). However, the ability of atmospheric ecology to help understand large scale patterns of Aerobiology Over Antarctica – A New Initiative for Atmospheric Ecology. biodiversity remains limited, mainly due to a lack of coordinated efforts in gathering data at Front. Microbiol. 7:16. appropriate temporal and spatial scales (Figure 1). It has been known for some time that the rate of doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.00016 dispersal to an ecosystem can significantly influence ecosystem dynamics; indeed, aerial transport Frontiers in Microbiology | www.frontiersin.org 1 February 2016 | Volume 7 | Article 16 Pearce et al. Aerobiology Over Antarctica FIGURE 1 | Distribution of aerobiological studies worldwide to date. The map shows the number of aerobiology studies published in English (and indexed in Scopus), as a measure of the uneven and scattered distribution of aerobiological studies worldwide. has been identified as an important source of biological input to and climate events (IPCC, 2012), so understanding the direct remote locations (e.g., Pearce et al., 2010). With the considerable link between weather conditions and biological dispersal is effort devoted in recent decades to understanding Antarctic essential to determine the rate of climate-driven ecological atmospheric dynamics, we believe a unique opportunity has change worldwide. Here, we present a suggested minimal emerged to investigate atmospheric ecology from regional to methodology intended to gather wide ranging metadata relevant continental scales. to aerial ecology at representative temporal and spatial scales. Despite the acknowledged importance of airborne The methodological approach discussed here, and agreed by the microorganisms (including microscopic spores and other pan-Antarctic initiative ‘Aerobiology over Antarctica’, provides a propagules) (Fierer, 2008), most aerobiological studies have series of sample handling guidelines and metadata characteristics consistently failed to consider the stability and viability of required to ensure pan-Antarctic and worldwide sampling wind-borne microorganisms in the aerial environment. Whilst consistency, and represents the first-ever coordinated effort to it is assumed that potential colonists arrive continually from provide a dynamic global map of aerobiological transport. the atmosphere, for example, linked to precipitation and wind- blown debris, the often extreme and selective nature of the The ‘Aerobiology Over Antarctica’ atmospheric environment is likely to limit the viability of the Consortium material transported to an unknown extent. With evolution, With recent agreement to co-ordinate weather and climate extinction, and colonization driving microbial biodiversity monitoring at the XIth Scientific Committee on Antarctic patterns, aerial dispersal becomes intimately linked with eco- Research (SCAR) symposium – Life in Antarctica: Boundaries evolutionary dynamics across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine and Gradients in a Changing Environment, Barcelona, 15– environments. Consequently, knowledge of the rates of airborne 18th, July 2013, the necessary foundation exists to enable input, survival of the imposed stresses of the transfer process, establishment of a pan-Antarctic sampling initiative. For the and viability on arrival, is essential for understanding ecosystem first time, this initiative encompasses a co-ordinated program stability and resilience. to produce (i) a global dataset on aerobiological diversity and Aerial biodiversity studies carried out to date have generally (ii) contextualized environmental data aimed at clarifying the been based on single-site investigations over limited time relationship between aerial biodiversity and terrestrial ecosystem periods, providing ‘snapshot’ information on the abundance, stability. At the XXXIIIth SCAR Open Science Conference, distribution and diversity of microorganisms found in specific Auckland, New Zealand, 23rd August – 3rd September 2014, aerial environments (e.g., Pearce et al., 2010; Figure 2). Although a workshop was held to discuss the structure, sampling, and these have confirmed the magnitude of aerial dispersal, they environmental data recording methodologies, and common have failed to address its influence on ecosystem stability and approaches to data analyses that would be fundamental to the resilience, only providing qualitative data in this regard. success of such a program, and would render it technically A changing climate leads to changes in the frequency, feasible while also minimizing costs. Aerobiological samplers intensity, spatial extent, duration, and timing of extreme weather are relatively light and easy to install, monitor and use, Frontiers in Microbiology | www.frontiersin.org 2 February 2016 | Volume 7 | Article 16 Pearce et al. Aerobiology Over Antarctica FIGURE 2 | Distribution of aerobiological studies over Antarctica. Data extracted from studies indexed in ISI Web of Science and those available to the authors but not indexed, published between