The document discusses various aspects of aerobiology, including marine and airborne microorganisms, their ecological significance, and their impact on health. It highlights the role of aerosols in disease transmission, the prevalence of domestic mites as allergens, and advancements in plant disease forecasting methods. Additionally, it explores the influence of microorganisms on cultural heritage, and the potential of homeopathy and Ayurveda in treating allergic rhinitis.

1. NEGLECTED FIELDS OF AEROBIOLOGY IN INDIA
Subrata Raha
Prof. and HoD
Department of Botany
Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, Purulia, W.B.
Subrata-raha@skbu.ac.in

2. Ocean / Marine aerobiology
Ocean aerobiology is defined as the study of biological particles of marine origin, including
living organisms, present in the atmosphere and their role in ecological and climate processes.
• Hundreds of trillions of microorganisms are exchanged between ocean and atmosphere daily.
• Within few days, tropospheric transport potentially disperses microorganisms over continents and oceans.
• There is a need to better identify and quantify marine aerobiota.
• To determine the time spans and distances of atmospheric transport by marine microorganisms.
• To evaluate whether microorganisms acclimatize to atmospheric conditions and remain viable, or even grow.
• Exploring the atmosphere as a microbial habitat is fundamental and it will expand our knowledge of
biodiversity, biogeography, and ecosystem connectivity across different marine environments.
• In addition, organic matter in sea spray aerosol plays a significant role in the Earth’s radiative budget by
scattering solar radiation, and indirectly by affecting cloud properties.
• Marine organic matter is a significant source of ice nucleating particles (INPs), affecting the formation of ice
clouds.

3. Emiliania huxleyi virus Alphaproteobacteria Prochlorococcus marinus Synechococcus elongates
Micromonas pusilla Thalassiosira sp. Dinophysis acuminata.
SOME AIRBORNE MICROBIOTA OVER MARINE SURFACE

4. Physical processes associated with the generation of sea spray
aerosol. Cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), ice nucleating particles (INPs.)
Marine microorganisms are exposed to stressors in the
atmosphere that potentially reduce viability.
Ocean aerobiology is an
interdisciplinary framework that
integrates aerobiological studies with
oceanography, geochemistry,
atmospheric sciences, climate
science, and biogeography to
understand the significance of marine
organic matter in the atmosphere
both today and in response to future
climate change.

5. Aerobiology: in the Transmission of Infectious Diseases
• Exposure to airborne pathogens is commonly shared by all human life.
• With the improvement of research methods for studying airborne pathogens has come evidence indicating that
microorganisms (e.g., viruses, bacteria, and fungal spores) from an infectious source may disperse over very
great distances by air currents and ultimately be inhaled, ingested, or come into contact with individuals who
have had no contact with the infectious source.
• Airborne pathogens present a unique challenge in infectious disease and infection control, for a small percentage
of infectious individuals appear to be responsible for disseminating the majority of infectious particles.
ACTIVITY PARTICLE COUNT UNITS
Sneezing 40000 Per sneeze
Bowel evacuation 20000 Per event
Vomiting 1000 Per event
Coughing 710 Per cough
Talking 36 Per 100 words

6. Pathogens transmitted via droplet means Pathogens transmitted via airborne means
Bordetella pertussis Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Influenza viruses Rubeola virus
Adenoviruses Varicella zoster Virus
Rhinoviruses Variola viruses
SARS-associated coronavirus Rhinoviruses
Streptococcus pyogenes Rotavirus
Staphylococcus aureus Aspergillus sp.

7. • Crucial elements of aerobiology and physics thus important for health care system.
• High efficiency, affordable air filtration systems to be developed to protect the victims.
• It is important to study how aerobiological variables like particle size, shape, the duration that particles can remain airborne,
the distance that viable particles can travel, meteorological factors play a role in the spread of these infectious diseases..

8. Domestic mite–induced allergy
• Domestic mites include all indoor mites that belong to the subphylum Chelicerata, class Arachnida,
subclass Acari, superorder Acariformes, and order Astigmata.
• House dust mites, belonging to the superfamily Analgoidea, family Pyroglyphidae, are present in
human dwellings worldwide. Especially Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Dermatophagoides
farinae, and Euroglyphus maynei are the most common causes of human allergy.

9. Domestic mite induced allergy
• Domestic mites are diverse, omnipresent arthropods that cause allergy in more than 10% of the
general population, and 90% of individuals suffering from allergic asthma are sensitive to domestic
mites.
• Mite allergens belong to the group of inhalant allergens and represent antigenic substances that are
particularly important in the pathogenesis of respiratory system diseases and skin diseases.
• The most common diseases associated with chronic exposure to these aeroallergens include allergic
rhinitis, bronchial asthma, and atopic dermatitis.
• Bodies, feces, eggs, and corpse residues of mites can cause severe allergic reactions. Thus, when
mites multiply in large numbers in the human living environment, they easily make contact with
human skin and enter the respiratory tract, causing allergic reactions.

10. Better understanding is required
• Why the breeding rate of dust mites varied at dissimilar settings
• The relationship between dust mite allergens and house
characteristics and meteorological parameters
• Allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT) may be better than allergen
avoidance and pharmacotherapy treatments , however, ASIT with mite
extracts, which contain a mixture of allergens, non-allergens, and other
proteins, are difficult to standardize and can cause severe side effects
like anaphylaxis. Thus improved techniques for purification of allergen
is required.
• Ecofriendly, herbal formulation to be developed for inhibiting mite
population lives in indoor environment.
• Efficacy of Essential oil.

11. Aerobiology and Plant disease forecasting
Early-warning systems for plant
diseases are valuable when the
systems provide timely forecasts
that farmers can use to inform
their pest management decisions.
Philip Herries Gregory

12. The website provides information that
might be used to forecast an impending
Soybean Rust threat, and farmers may
use the information in choosing a
management strategy (www.sbrusa.net)
Two SBR websites are maintained: One
is public, and one is not. The nonpublic
website is designed to integrate
information from the large network of
disease-management professionals who
gather data and analyze it. The layouts of
these screens include a calendar of
archived products, a map display,
Geographic Information System (GIS)
tools for navigating the maps and support
materials. The simulation maps, include
daily spore transport, daily wet
deposition of spores over land,
accumulated wet deposition of spores
over land, and other forecast model
variables.

13. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13593-021-00694-z
The data included temperature, precipitation, RH, dew point,
solar radiation and wind speed. Other variables used were: sites,
crop growth, epidemic onset, infection rate, age effect,
temperature effect, wetness effect and aggregation.

14. AEROBIOLOGY OF PTERIDOPHYTES
Pteridophyte airborne spores are scarcely represented worldwide compared to fungal spores or even to
pollen grains. Few papers that reported data about aerobiology of ferns 42 belonged to researches
carried out in tropical and subtropical zones of Asia. In that sense, we must point out the work of
Yasmeen and Devi (1988) that informed about the airborne presence of 28 types of fern spores. There
were only two studies dealing about atmospheric fern spores content in Africa reporting 16 Pteridophyte
spores and three papers from America especially in Buenos Aires and surroundings.

15. Fig. 2 Fern spores identified in the air of Bratislava during the 2019–
2021 period under a light microscope; a, b – Asplenium sp., c, d –
Athyrium sp., e – Botrychium sp., f – Cystopteris sp., g, h –
Dryopteris sp., i – Equisetum sp., j, k – Matteuccia struthiopteris, l –
Polypodium sp.

16. Aerobiologists study the organisms and particles of biological origin – known together as bioaerosols –
that float around in our planet’s atmosphere. Some try to understand how bioaerosols get into the
atmosphere in the first place – for instance, by thunderstorms, volcanic activity, fire or dust storms – as
well as how bioaerosols are lofted by prevailing wind currents. Others study the impacts bioaerosols can
have, like influencing air and cloud chemistry.
ASTRO-AEROBIOLOGY - A NEW DISCIPLINE

17. Scientists in the Aerobiology Lab study the microbes that live in Earth’s upper atmosphere and what
happens when we send bacteria from the ground up that high. At those altitudes, they experience
temperatures, air pressure, dryness and radiation conditions similar to those found on the surface of
Mars. This can help astrobiologists – the scientists who study the origin, evolution and distribution of
life in the universe.
Balloon Missions
Exposing Microorganisms in the
Stratosphere 1 (E-MIST 1)
The Aircraft Bioaerosol
Collector (ABC) system
NASA C-20A aircraft
Several viable bacterial isolates were recovered from flight altitudes, including Bacillus sp., Micrococcus sp., Arthrobacter sp.,
and Staphylococcus sp. from Cruise samples and Brachybacterium sp. from Ascent/Descent sample.
A Balloon experiment jointly by ISRO, TIFR, CCMB and NCCS discovered two new bacteria from Stratosphere - B. isronensis
and B. aryabhattai.
Ref: https://www.nasa.gov/scientificballoons

18. Cultural heritage monuments may be
discolored and degraded by growth and
activity of living organisms. Microorganisms
form biofilms on surfaces of stone, with
resulting aesthetic and structural damage.
The organisms involved are bacteria fungi,
archaea, algae, and lichens.
Aerobiology and Cultural heritage

19. Some fungal species showed restricted occurrence to a specific
archaeological site of Taxila. The comparative study of aerial and
surface mycoflora revealed that dominant aerial fungal species were
involved in biodeterioration of monuments. The chemical composition
of fungal patinas and biofilm was also carried out, and it was found that
calcite, gypsum and calcium oxalate were the main minerals detected by
X-ray diffraction technique. The dominant fungal species were also
determined for their ability to produce organic acids in broth medium.
The fungal species produce a significant amount of citric acid, acetic
acid, oxalic acid, fumaric acid and gluconic acid. The different surface
alterations of archaeological monuments of Taxila are due to the
metabolic activities of fungal species growing on it.

20. Ayurveda & Homeopathy for allergic rhinitis
In treatment of Seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR), the use of
complementary therapies is increasing, but little has been published
about homeopathic complex remedies so far. Course of single
symptoms, impairment of quality of life, general efficacy, and
tolerability of a homeopathic remedy containing active substances on a
low dilution level have been assessed and analyzed by Trompetter et al.,
(2015) among 123 patients with a history of allergic rhinitis of up to 45
years for about 4 weeks. The majority of symptoms were shown to
improve substantially and the patients' quality of life increased clearly.
pilot study was carried by Ghosh et al., (2013) on 34 participants suffering from chronic AR. After one year of
homeopathic treatment, lowering of serum IgE level, absolute eosinophil count of blood and AR symptoms score
(and increase in WHOQOL-BREF scores of AR were statistically highly significant. No adverse effects and/or
complications were observed. Most commonly used constitutional and acute remedies were Natrum muriaticum
and Histamine hydrochloride respectively in different centesimal potencies.
Ghosh, S., Das, S., Mundle, M., Sengupta, D., Hossain, S. I., Koley, M. and Saha, S. (2013). An open label pilot study testing the
role of classical homeopathy in chronic allergic rhinitis. IJPSR, 4(4), 1475-1484
Trompetter I, Lebert J, Weiß G: Homeopathic Complex Remedy in the
Treatment of Allergic Rhinitis: Results of a Prospective, Multicenter
Observational Study. Forsch Komplementmed 2015;22:18-23.