Amazonian rainforest bioaerosol influenced by African dust intrusion

Amazonian rainforest bioaerosol influenced by African dust intrusion | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Amazonian rainforest bioaerosol influenced by African dust intrusion Bettina Weber, Jens Weber, Isabella Hrabe de Angelis, Sebastian Brill, and 10 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9151541/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Biological particles are a substantial component of Amazonian aerosols, yet their community composition, spatiotemporal variability, and atmospheric impacts remain poorly understood. Here, we present a comprehensive study of archaeal, bacterial, and fungal bioaerosol communities in the Amazon rainforest, collected at 42 m and 323 m height above ground at the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO). Archaea exhibited overall low prevalence, dominated by potential marine clades. Under rainforest background conditions, the bacterial community varied strongly with time and height, indicating an inhomogeneous source distribution and strong long-range influence. In contrast, the fungal bioaerosol community exhibited low variability over time and height, suggesting persistent, widespread, and uniform regional sources. During an African dust intrusion, the bacterial community composition changed drastically. A strong increase in relative sequence abundance of bacteria belonging to the phylum Bacillota, known to be abundant in Saharan dust, suggests a substantial influx of bacterial bioparticles and genetic material from Africa. In contrast, the fungal community remained unaffected, likely due to a masking effect of local emissions. During the dust event, the total mass concentrations of coarse mode aerosol particles (>1 µm) and of atmospheric endotoxins, that can trigger respiratory diseases, increased by factors up to 4. This study serves as a key foundation to unravel the mechanisms of bioparticle and dust cycling and their effects on biodiversity, climate, and public health during Earth history up to current and future environmental conditions in the Anthropocene. Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Microbial ecology Biological sciences/Microbiology/Environmental microbiology/Air microbiology bacteria fungi microbial diversity aerobiome amplicon sequencing Bacillota endotoxin Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformation.pdf Supplementary Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9151541","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":610804548,"identity":"77330f09-54c9-4f15-ac2b-4443f02a0f73","order_by":0,"name":"Bettina Weber","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABFElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAxCRAGbyAHEFAwMbYS3MjA0ILWeQtPDg0wJXwtiGJIVLizl7//EHD3fYMRgc7z34uHLe4Tw+BvZrH378YZC3x6HFsucwY0PimWQGgzPnkg3PbjtczMbAUzyzh4fBsAeXw24kA7W0MTOY3cgxk2zcdjixTf5NMgOPBAMjTi33H4O01DOY3X9j/rNxDlALA08y4x8DBnvctjCDtBwG2sJjxtjYANLCfpiZJ4EhEZcWy55kwxmJbcd57M/kJUs2HEsH2cLMLHNAIrnnAK4QO/jg48+2ajnJ9rMHPzbUWCfOb2B/zPjmj41tewMOa6AAORJ4QElCAr96NMD+gCTlo2AUjIJRMOwBAIAtV+ebnb7GAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5453-3967","institution":"University of Graz","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bettina","middleName":"","lastName":"Weber","suffix":""},{"id":610804549,"identity":"481eaffc-3e10-4cc4-9950-a0f305908302","order_by":1,"name":"Jens Weber","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Max Planck Institute for Chemistry","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jens","middleName":"","lastName":"Weber","suffix":""},{"id":610804550,"identity":"f1385b39-e74e-4ac0-9a7f-b7a135d35cf0","order_by":2,"name":"Isabella Hrabe de Angelis","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9451-8908","institution":"Max Planck Institute for Chemistry","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Isabella","middleName":"Hrabe","lastName":"de Angelis","suffix":""},{"id":610804551,"identity":"2c540941-c444-4403-93ac-fcf095e03c85","order_by":3,"name":"Sebastian Brill","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8535-6182","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sebastian","middleName":"","lastName":"Brill","suffix":""},{"id":610804552,"identity":"4df7cbed-f8d9-4a2f-8cef-0bc32568431a","order_by":4,"name":"Cybelli Barbosa","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6156-8749","institution":"Max Planck Institute for Chemistry","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Cybelli","middleName":"","lastName":"Barbosa","suffix":""},{"id":610804553,"identity":"5af9b8dc-432d-482f-bba3-0f4e54a6f025","order_by":5,"name":"Stefanie Maier","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Graz","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Stefanie","middleName":"","lastName":"Maier","suffix":""},{"id":610804554,"identity":"5624c6eb-3430-4ffc-90d5-e47106a60c1d","order_by":6,"name":"Petya Yordanova","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Max Planck Institute for Chemistry","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Petya","middleName":"","lastName":"Yordanova","suffix":""},{"id":610804555,"identity":"1fdc1afc-3331-4e9f-b49e-7ed4504e837c","order_by":7,"name":"Rodrigo Alves","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Graz","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rodrigo","middleName":"","lastName":"Alves","suffix":""},{"id":610804556,"identity":"8c962025-2771-4404-8711-66b04757a2e7","order_by":8,"name":"Cléo Dias-Junior","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4783-4689","institution":"National Institute for Amazonian Research - INPA, Manaus, Brazil","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Cléo","middleName":"","lastName":"Dias-Junior","suffix":""},{"id":610804557,"identity":"d94a4b49-820a-4080-9f6d-eb3dc9f9bf11","order_by":9,"name":"Alessandro Araujo","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7361-5087","institution":"Brazilian Agriculture Research Corporation (EMBRAPA)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alessandro","middleName":"","lastName":"Araujo","suffix":""},{"id":610804558,"identity":"cc96d3e0-5763-48e0-b449-f3e34932384e","order_by":10,"name":"Paulo Artaxo","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7754-3036","institution":"Univerisiy of Sao Paulo","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Paulo","middleName":"","lastName":"Artaxo","suffix":""},{"id":610804559,"identity":"42320d08-b1fb-4d3e-9806-d4fba98fa111","order_by":11,"name":"Ricardo Godoi","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4774-4870","institution":"Federal University of Paran\u0026#x00E1","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ricardo","middleName":"","lastName":"Godoi","suffix":""},{"id":610804560,"identity":"6e8a0e78-e8e4-48b1-90b8-95ce0501b7f1","order_by":12,"name":"Ulrich Pöschl","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1412-3557","institution":"Max Planck Institute for Chemistry","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ulrich","middleName":"","lastName":"Pöschl","suffix":""},{"id":610804561,"identity":"0a374257-5179-4cce-8330-b328db821a7f","order_by":13,"name":"Christopher Pöhlker","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6958-425X","institution":"Max Planck Institute for Chemistry","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Christopher","middleName":"","lastName":"Pöhlker","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-17 17:51:31","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9151541/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9151541/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107707602,"identity":"c100480a-8ae6-4a7e-b6c8-9092a551b1c9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-24 09:20:43","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1134208,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"ArticleFile.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9151541/v1_covered_660cf09b-f140-49fa-8f0a-359e2ee5e986.pdf"},{"id":105354397,"identity":"97fecd0e-4661-4382-873b-8d2078dcad61","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-25 06:30:04","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":1947951,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Information","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryInformation.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9151541/v1/a23976cab9beacd95ca2bb78.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Amazonian rainforest bioaerosol influenced by African dust intrusion","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"bacteria, fungi, microbial diversity, aerobiome, amplicon sequencing, Bacillota, endotoxin","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9151541/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9151541/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Biological particles are a substantial component of Amazonian aerosols, yet their community composition, spatiotemporal variability, and atmospheric impacts remain poorly understood. Here, we present a comprehensive study of archaeal, bacterial, and fungal bioaerosol communities in the Amazon rainforest, collected at 42 m and 323 m height above ground at the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO). Archaea exhibited overall low prevalence, dominated by potential marine clades. Under rainforest background conditions, the bacterial community varied strongly with time and height, indicating an inhomogeneous source distribution and strong long-range influence. In contrast, the fungal bioaerosol community exhibited low variability over time and height, suggesting persistent, widespread, and uniform regional sources. During an African dust intrusion, the bacterial community composition changed drastically. A strong increase in relative sequence abundance of bacteria belonging to the phylum Bacillota, known to be abundant in Saharan dust, suggests a substantial influx of bacterial bioparticles and genetic material from Africa. In contrast, the fungal community remained unaffected, likely due to a masking effect of local emissions. During the dust event, the total mass concentrations of coarse mode aerosol particles (\u003e1 µm) and of atmospheric endotoxins, that can trigger respiratory diseases, increased by factors up to 4. This study serves as a key foundation to unravel the mechanisms of bioparticle and dust cycling and their effects on biodiversity, climate, and public health during Earth history up to current and future environmental conditions in the Anthropocene.","manuscriptTitle":"Amazonian rainforest bioaerosol influenced by African dust intrusion","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-25 06:29:59","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9151541/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"91777c8f-79f3-496e-a86c-22650ac7cad3","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 25th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":64990241,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Microbial ecology"},{"id":64990242,"name":"Biological sciences/Microbiology/Environmental microbiology/Air microbiology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-23T13:06:00+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-25 06:29:59","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9151541","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9151541","identity":"rs-9151541","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}