Aerobiologia
InternutloNI Journal of ,~robloloB.Y
ELSEVIER
Aerobiologia 14 (1998) 59-67
Airborne fungal spores in an industrial area: seasonal and diurnal
periodicity
Bijaya Kumar Nayak *, Anima Nanda, Narayan Behera
Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Berhampur UniversiO,, Berhampur, Orissa 760 007, India
Accepted 16 February 1998
Abstract
Qualitative and quantitative studies of atmospheric fungal spores at a chloralkali factory, Jayashree Chemicals. were made
during 1993 employing culture plate and rotorod methods. A total of 57 sporulating fungal types, including three sterile mycelial
forms, were recorded by the culture plate method and 51 spore types, including the hyphal fragments and unidentified spores, were
recorded by the rotorod method. As to the seasonal variation, winter was found to be the greatest contributor of fungal spores
as compared to the summer and rainy season. Instead, when considering the hour of the day, the peak number of fungal
propagules was recorded at noon (12.00 h) followed by evening and morning values, an exception being recorded in winter
months, when maximum CFUs of Cladosporium were monitored in the morning. The seasonal variation in fungal concentration
and composition was found to be influenced by temperature, rainfall and relative humidity, whereas diurnal incidence was the
effect of varying temperature and relative humidity during day time only. Moderate temperature and relative humidity favoured
the maximum fungal spore load in the atmosphere. Cladosporium, Nigrospora, Alternaria, Lasiodiplodia, Drechslera, Pestalotia,
Curvularia, Epicoccum, Aspergiltus, Penicilliurn and Chaetomium were the commonest fungal spores in the factory area. 9 1998
Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Chloralkali factory; Fungal propagules; CFUs; Seasonal variation; Diurnal variation
I. Introduction
Airborne fungal spores contribute a m a j o r share o f
bioaerosols and investigations are essential to understand their distribution, ecology and biodeterioration,
to forecast plant diseases (Chaubal and Kotamire,
1982) and to detect allergies and skin diseases (Singh
and Singh, 1994). The incidences of such diseases are
increasing steadily in metropolitan and industrial areas
drawing thus considerable attention in recent days
( N a y a k and Behera, 1996).
The number and type of airborne fungal spores o f a
locality vary according to the time of the day, weather,
* Corresponding author. Fax: + 91 680 202322.
geographical location and presence of the local spore
sources. F o r instance, seasonal crops and vegetation
provide compost material favouring the growth and
reproduction of large numbers o f fungi irrespective o f
h u m a n interference (Hyde, 1972; K u m a r , 1984; F e r n a n dez-Gonzalez et al., 1993; N a y a k and Behera, 1996).
Depending on the concentration and circumstances o f
exposure, fungal-spores m a y cause a range o f allergic
diseases sometimes through infection or m o r e often
owing to their i m m u n o t o x i c properties (Aberg, 1989;
Ellis and Gallup, 1989). Therefore, it is necessary to
gain knowledge on the ecology o f fungal airspora and
aeroallergens and on the disease they cause. T h e
present investigation provides data only on seasonal
and diurnal incidence of fungal airspora studied at a
chloralkali factory.
0393-5965/98/$19.00 9 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII S0393-5965(98)00007-9
60
B.K. Nayak et al. /Aerobiologia 14 (1998) 59-67
2. Materials and methods
The present study was conducted inside the
premises of a chloralkali factory, Jayashree Chemicals., located in Ganjam, about 1 km away from
Ganjam town and 30 km away from Berhampur city,
Orissa, on the coastal belt of the Bay of Bengal
(85~
longitude, 19~
latitude). The factory discharges mercury-based effluents, solid wastes and
chlorine gas that are main agents of water, soil and
air pollution, respectively. The regular discharge of
solid wastes inside the factory premises over the years
has almost erased the natural herbaceous and annual
vegetation that is sparsely seen around the factory
and only patches of Pandanus fascicularis and certain
tree plants are found inside. The factory area is surrounded by the estuary of the river Rushikulya in the
south, the Bay of Bengal in the east and paddy fields
in the west and north. The site has a monsoon climate with coastal features, the temperature varies between 15 and 40~ and the annual rainfall never
exceeds 1300 mm. Indian meteorologists recognise
three seasons, i.e. winter (November-February), summer (March-June) and rainy season (July-October).
Rain is mainly due to the south-west monsoon that
begins by the middle of June and extends up to the
end of September or the 1st week of October with
maximum rainfall between 15th July and 15th September.
Air samplings were made during morning, noon
and evening hours at fortnightly intervals on the top
of a building (10 m above ground level) from January
to December 1993 employing the rotorod sampler as
well as exposing media plates (| 9 cm). Petridishes
containing sterile PDA medium with streptopenicillin
(50 mg/1) in three replicates were exposed to air for 5
min, the time being standardized to get the requisite
number of colony forming units (CFUs) per plate.
The exposed Petridishes were incubated in a culture
room at 25 _+ 3~ for 7 days with observations performed every day for fast growing colonies. The
CFUs in plates were counted and identified up to
species level.
Simultaneously, volumetric air sampling was made
by operating the rotorod for 1 h. The cellotape stripes
were removed carefully, cut to 18 mm length segments
and scanned under microscope for ten microscopic
fields. Identification of fungal spore types and fungal
species was made with the help of standard taxonomic
books and available literature (Ellis, 1971; Subramanian, 1971; Barnet and Hunter, 1972; Ainsworth et
al., 1973, Gregory, 1973; Gilman, 1975; Von Arx,
1981; Onions et al., 1986; Tilak, 1989). The total
number of spores counted were converted to the numbers m -3 of air multiplying by '5' (Tilak, 1987) and
calculated as follows,
breadth of the trace
width of each scan
total area scanned
speed of rotation
duration of sampling
length of the sweep
volume of air; scanned
within the scanned area
conversion factor for
estimating
2 mm
350/~m or 0.35 mm and
10 scans = 3.5 mm
3.5 x 2 mm = 0.07 cm 2,
2000 rpm
60 min
rcx diametre x rpm x time
= 3.14 x 82 x 2000 x 60
= 3017, 142.857 cm,
3017, 142.857 cm x 0.07
c m 2 = 2112200
cm 3 = 0.2112 m 3
m 3 of air = 1/0.2112
= 4.73 or 5.
Spores with rounded appearance mostly belonging
to some members of aspergilli, penicilli, mucorales and
Gliocladium could not be identified and were considered as unidentified round spore types. Percentage
contribution to the total numbers by an individual
spore type or species was determined as the total number of the spores or CFUs of the individual fungus
divided by the total number of spores of all the spore
types or total number of CFUs of all the fungal species multiplied by 100.
Meteorological parameters like atmospheric temperature and relative humidity recorded at the site were
correlated with the fungal spore concentrations taking
meteorological observations as independent variables
and fungal spores as dependent variables (Pearson's
coefficient of correlation). To relate the species composition in diurnal variation, similarity coefficient was
calculated using the formula (2W/a + b ) x 100 where,
W is the number of common fungi, 'a' is the total
fungi of one sample and 'b' is the total fungi of the
other sample.
3. Results
During the study period, 91 fungal types altogether
were recorded by both methods. The total number of
CFUs isolated by the culture plate method was 3307,
assigned to 57 species. Each fungal colony on agar plate
was assumed to be developed from a single viable unit,
spore/hyphae. Of the total isolates of the species, members of Deuteromycotina accounted for 98.25% and it
was followed by the members of mucorales (1 75%). A
total of 7605 fungal spores m -3 of air assigned to 51
spore types was recorded by the rotorod. Most of the
fungal spore types belonged to Deuteromycotina accounting for 78.43% of the total spores, followed by
19.61% of ascospores and 1.96% of spores of
mucorales.
61
B.K. Nayak et aL /Aerobiologia 14 (1998) 59-67
4O
---
15
t- i
200
15o
100
~ 50
0
~
750
120
lO0
~
6o ~
80
40
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
H~Y JUN
JUL
AUG
o-.----o: MEAN OF M A X I ~ TI~PERA'[ZRRE
6---..~ : MEAN OF MIN]Fft~ ~ E R A I " U R E
SEP
~'T
NOV
DEC
.~
0
o-.---.o:MFAN OF RELATIVE
HI~IDITY
: TOTAL RAINFALL
Fig. 1. Monthlyvariation in fungalspore concentration,total rainfall, mean of relativehumidity,mean of maximumand minimumtemperatures
recorded during 1993.
Monthly incidence of fungal population together
with the atmospheric parameters is quite evident from
Fig. 1. The maximum number of spores was recorded
in January and November and the minimum in June
and July. Using the rotorod the highest number of
fungal airspora m - 3 was monitored in winter (November-February) followed by the values of the rainy
season (July-October) and summer (March-June).
With the culture plate method, the lowest number of
fungal spores was isolated during the rainy season (Fig.
2). Diurnal incidence in fungal airspora was studied
utilizing both methods. With the culture plate method
the highest number of colony forming units was
recorded at noon, accounting for 45.8% of the total
isolates followed by values referring to morning and
evening hours (Fig. 3). Similarly, when studied volumetrically, the highest number of fungal airspora m - 3
was recorded around noon followed by evening and
morning hours contributing 46.4, 29.3 and 24.3% of the
daily total, respectively.
62
B.K. Nayak et al./Aerobiologia 14 (1998) 59-67
Winter
Winter
41.03%
42.66~
/
Summer
Summer
iny
28.g3%
Rainy
30.04
Culture plate method
Rotorod method
Fig. 2. Seasonal variation in spore concentration.
A relationship in terms of common number of species
recorded between the three sampling times is given in
Table 1, which clearly revealed that morning time was
found to be better related to noon time followed by
noon and evening times while, evening and morning
times were less related to each other as to their fungal
composition.
Airborne fungal spores m -3 and meteorological
parameters like temperature and relative humidity were
statistically correlated, the correlation coefficient values
becoming negative (Figs. 4 and 5).
Relative abundance of different fungi recorded by
both techniques at morning, noon and evening hours is
given in Table 2. Analysis of the culture plate method
revealed Cladosporium cladosporioides as the dominant
fungal spore accounting for 19.28% of the average
total, followed by non-sporulated Gray sterile mycelial
forms (13.91%) and C. herbarum (5.93%). Cladosporium mostly occurred in winter months, contributing
above 50% to the winter total airspora m - 3 and it was
found to be the fourth dominant one contributing
7.23% to the annual total m -3 of air, whereas Nigrospora sphaerica was the first dominant one accounting for 15.78% of the average annual total followed by
hyphal fragments (9.73%) and unidentified spores
(8.22%). On observation of the individual fungus, a few
fungal types were recorded throughout the year with
peak concentration over different periods, viz. Alternaria during February and April, Drechslera during
April and June, hyphal fragments (August and September), Nigrospora (March and September), Periconia
(May and September) and unidentified spore types
(May and August) in other months. However, occurrence of certain fungal types exhibited restriction to
seasons being recorded sporadically in other periods of
the year; Cladosporium, Fusarium oxysporum, Albugo,
Alternaria padwickii, Curvularia, Diplodia, Sporormia,
Beltrania, Tefraploa and Colletotrichum were predomi-
nant in winter but hardly occurred in late summer and
early rainy season whereas, Pithomyces, Chaetomium,
Memnoniella echinata and Paecilomyces were found
mainly during rainy season and Haplosporella,
Fusariella, Humicola, Pestalotia, Aureabasidium pullulans were restricted to summer.
Members of aspergilli, penicilli and mucorales were
higher in number during early rainy periods. Besides
the dominant ones, contributing substantially to the
annual total airspora, a large number of fungal types
were recorded incidentally one to three times during the
study period, contributing thus negligibly.
Isolates of Alternaria dianthicola, Aspergillus flavus,
A. fumigatus, A. wentii, Chalaropels sp., Curvularia
lunate var. aeria, C. Oryzee, C. pennisetii, Drechalera
halodes, D. hawaiiensis, D. phlei, Fusarium moniliformac, Gliocladium deliquescens, G. roseum, Humicola
fuscoatra, H. nigrescens, Paecilomyces variotii, Penicillium ehrysogenum, P. oxalicum, P. purpurogenum and P.
rugulosum accounted for less than 1% of the total CFUs
isolated by the culture plate method.
Similarly, according to the rotorod measurements,
the fungal spores contributing less than 1% to the
annual total airspora were Behrania, Botryosphaeria,
Botrytis, Cordana, Corynespora, Curvularia eragrostidis,
Dictyoarthrinium,
Diplodia,
Haplosporella,
Helminthosporium, Heterosporium, Memnoniella eehinata, Monascus, Otthia, Pithomyces, Pyrieularia oryzee,
Sordaria, Tetraploa aristata, Trichothecium and Xyleria.
Taking into account the diurnal periodicity, certain
fungal spore types were observed with highest incidence
at different hours of the day. Cladosporium, Albugo,
Dictyoarthrinium, Trichocladium and Penicillium were
found mostly during morning hours, Nigrospora, Cordana and Drechslera during noon hours and Sporormia,
Sordaria, Teichospora, Macrophoma, Botrytis, Corynespora, Dendryphion, Myrothecium and Trichothecium
were recorded in higher amounts during evening hours.
63
B.K. Nayak et al. / Aerobiologia 14 (1998) 59-67
Noon
45.8%
Noon
46.4%
tlltllttlllllllttl
Ittllttetlelelr
IiIlllllttllllllt
,tlttlltltlllllil
,ilttlllllltllttl
,lllltltiltillll
,tleittltetllll
illilillltlll
ililtltitlll
Evening
26.9%
Ir162 '~
Morning
27.8~
Eveni
29.81-
illlt
ning
24.3%
I ~
Culture plate method
Rotorod method
Fig. 3. Diurnal variation in spore concentration.
4.
Discussion
Thanks to the present study the existence of a variety
of airborne fungal spores in the chloralkali factory
under investigation was proven. The number of fungal
species isolated by the culture plate method were relatively higher than the fungal spore types trapped with
the rotorod. Most of the fungal spores recorded by the
rotorod belonged to Deuteromycotina, followed by
spore types belonging to Ascomycotina; a few spores
were assigned to mucorales. Similar results have been
achieved around the world by Larsson (1981), Rubulis
(1984), Rai and Singh (1988), Palmas and Cosentino
(1990) and Halwagy (1994).
The seasonal impact on airborne fungal spore concentration is quite evident from Fig. 1. A remarkable
variation was observed in the monthly concentration of
fungal spores. The maximum load of airspora was
observed in January and November and the minimum
June and July. These variations might be due to the
fluctuation in temperature, relative humidity and rainfall. The lowest concentration recorded in June and
July coincided to heavy rainfalls whereas the highest
contribution assessed in January and November corresponded to low rainfall, moderate temperature and
moderate humidity (Srivastava and Shukla, 1990;
Nayak and Behera, 1996). Tilak (1989) and Verma
(1990) also reported that moderate temperature, moderate humidity and mild rainfall favour the fungal sporulation, whereas extreme temperatures give less support
to the process and heavy rainfall washes out spores
from the atmosphere.
The present data revealed a marked seasonal fluctuation in the total airspora m - 3 and spore types over the
whole study period (Fig. 1). Fungal spore counts were
usually higher in winter, but low counts of spores in
summer and even lower ones in the rainy season were
reported by culture plate method; instead, with the
rotorod, low spore counts were recorded in the rainy
season and lower ones in summer. Similar observations,
with more fungal spores in winter (Nayak and Behera,
1996) and more mould spores in autumn and spring
(Palmas and Cosentino, 1990) have been recorded earlier, but no investigations have ever reported lower
spore concentration in June and July. However, the
present study reported a general trend in variation of
airborne spore concentrations already found in tropical
environments (Talde and Gaikward, 1981; Maribhat
and Rajasab, 1991).
Cladosporium was the first dominant fungal spore
detected with the culture plate method and the fourth
dominant one with the rotorod corroborating thus the
findings of earlier reports (Sarma and Sarma, 1993;
Satheesh et al., 1993). According to the data achieved
with the rotorod, Nigrospora was the first dominant
fungal: spore accounting for 15.78% of the annual total
and occurring throughout the year fully in agreement
with earlier data coming from the coastal belts (Varma,
1984) but differing from those of other sites (Srivastava
and Shukla, 1990; Maribhat and Rajasab, 1991). With
the rotorod hyphal fragments were recorded as the
second dominant fungal spore comprising 9.73% of the
total airspora. According to some authors (Rees, 1964;
Table 1
Total number of fungal types and similarity coefficient values
recorded at differenttimes of the day
Day times
Morning
Morning
Noon
Night
64a
82.44b/54c
75.36/52
Noon
Night
--
--
67
76.59/54
-74
aTotal number of fungal types.
bSimilaritycoefficient.
cCommon number of fungal types between two samples.
64
B.K. Nayak et al. / Aerobiologia 14 (1998) 59-67
200
150
z
0
9
0
10o
14.
0
n
50
9 24
r -
lie
p
z
-0.362
9 0.05
o
0
I--
250
Q~
l--
200
aE
taJ
150
5=C~
I.J
tO0
9
lad
n - 24
5O
0
r
a.
: \
9 -0.155
p > 0.05
In
0
..a
n =24
,I(
r
150
f.O
9 -0.393
p < 0.05
me
la.
~.. 100
-
:I[
OC
0
r
9
SO
9
O0
9
~"1;
J
14
!
16
l
18
I
20
I
22
I
24
t
26
ee
!
28
I
30
I
32
T ( N P E R A T U R E
Fig. 4. Pearson's coefficientof correlation of fungal temperature, 'r' correlation coefficient,'n' number of observations and 'P' probability level.
Ramalingam, 1971; Srivastava and Shukla, 1990) hyphal fragments were ranking first among airspora. In
the present study the concentration of hyphal fragments was found to be rather high compared to other
places. The high concentration of the fungal hyphae
(fragments) in the factory area might be due to the
prevailing conditions of the site, that might have
caused fungi to be dispersed in the atmosphere in
hyphal forms. Kulkarni, (1981) reported in his findings
that the effects of relative humidity, temperature and
rainfall do not play any significant role in the distribution of fungal hyphae, however, the concentration of
hyphal fragments increases in relation to an increase
in humidity and wind velocity (Srivastava and Shukla,
1990). The reason for such a high concentration of
airborne hyphal fragments might lie in the location of
the factory built close to the seaside.
Nayak and Behera (1996) reported that the fluctuation of the atmospheric spore load throughout the
year was controlled by the meteorological parameters.
When atmospheric fungal spores m -3 and meteorological parameters were statistically correlated, the correlation coefficient became negative (Figs. 4 and 5),
hence it was confirmed that the independent variables
(temperature and humidity) directly regulated the distribution of fungal spores in the air and it was inferred
that the increase in temperature and humidity decreases the fungal spores in the air and vice versa. In
the present study a negative correlation was found
between spore counts and temperature in accordance
with the earlier study of Ganguly (1992). It was inferred that with moderate-temperature and relative humidity peak concentration of airborne spores could be
recorded.
65
B.K. Nayak et al. /Aerobiologia 14 (1998) 59-67
200
2~
I./J
15o
1oo ,,,,
so
9
..
n=
o
nE
9 9O 9
r = -0.562
p < 0.01
e~
Q.
o
24
250
z
o
•,•,,,,
200
ev
I! -' t,J
z
o
:=
9
9
150
o
o
0
C~
9 o~
~
~
'
"o
9
lOO
n-24
..J
5o
Z
r
U.
9
9 -0.515
p < 0.01
150
lOO
--
n 9
r --0.079
5o
oe
p >O.OS
0
-II
I
40
I
45
~
I
50
I
55
t
60
I
65
I
70
t
75
t
80
I
85
I
90
9
I
95
!
100
HUMIDITY
Fig. 5. Pearson's coefficientof correlation of fungal spore concentrationsm- 3of air versus relative humidity, 'r' correlation coefficient,'n' number
of observations and 'P' probability level.
The dominant ones contributed substantially to the
annual total spore and to the day time total (Table 2).
Besides, a considerable variety of fungal spores, very
low in number, were recorded sporadically over the
investigated period. With respect to the responses of
individual fungi to season, and to day times, the authors found contradictory and coinciding reports
(Khan and Ali, 1984; Kumar, 1984; Janaki Bai et al.,
1987; Nayak and Behera, 1996). However, the occurrence of Alternaria, aspergilli, penicilli, Curvularia,
Drechslera and a few others was in agreement with the
findings of some of the authors (Infante et al., 1987;
Jurado et al., 1990).
The study monitored a large number of saprophytes,
some plant pathogens and few aeroallergens in the
atmosphere of the factory area. The dominant sapro-
phytes were Cladosporium, Pestalotia, Curvlaria, Lasiodiplodia,
Nigrospora,
Chaetomium, Epicoccum,
Periconia, Memnoniella and a few others. Plant pathogens like Alternaria, Drechslera, Helminthosporium,
Fusarium, Pyricularia, Colletotrichum (Nanda et al.,
1996) were recorded at different concentrations. Alternaria, Drechslera and Fusarium were the dominant
plant pathogenic fungi accounting for more than 13%
of the total airspora and their occurrence was mostly
influenced by the vegetation of the site. Aspergilli and
penicilli reported to be aeroallergens (Singh and Singh,
1994) and other mould fungi viz., Mucor, Paecilomyces
and Gliocladium were isolated in good numbers.
A. flavus, causing 'aflatoxicosis' in birds by producing
aflatoxin (Verma and Bhandari, 1992), A. fumigatus,
the main agent causing 'aspergillosis', commonly
B.K. Nayak et al. / Aerobiologia 14 (1998) 59-67
66
Table 2
Annual percentage abundance of fungal types contributed above 1% in the atmosphere of the factory area during 1993
Fungi
Day times
Morning
Noon
CP
Evening
Average %
RM
CP
RM
CP
RM
CP
White sterile mycelia
-2.88
-1.22
2.32
6.53
--17.49
6.75
5.20
4.43
4.87
-1.88
0.44
0.66
2.44
2.32
0.55
-3.21
10.52
-~ 2.99
---1.55
--7.75
7.04
4.88
3.25
---4.88
4.06
-----0.00
1.35
-3.79
-8.40
1.62
3.52
3.52
-11.11
0.27
0.00
15.17
5.96
3.79
6.23
0.54
--
-4.16
-0.59
2.18
1.98
--18.68
4.82
7.79
0.26
0.00
-3.50
2.04
4.16
0.73
4.55
2.11
-4.22
19.40
-2.77
---0.99
--3.17
0.57
5.10
1.13
---3.40
5.38
-----2.41
1.13
-8.64
-5.24
1.42
2.69
1.98
-7.93
3.96
1.84
18.98
4.81
1.98
9.49
2.41
--
-2.70
-1.69
4.84
4.84
--21.93
4.16
3.48
1.12
0.45
-4.16
1.57
5.51
1.69
5.51
2.70
-3.82
7.98
-3.37
---1.91
--4.05
1.34
3.81
0.89
---2.91
12.78
-----0.45
2.91
-4.48
-2.24
3.48
3.81
2.91
-11.43
2.46
1.79
11.21
3.36
1.34
7.85
0.67
--
-3.42
-1.05
2.93
3.99
--9.28
5.17
5.93
1.63
1.45
-3.23
1.48
3.57
1.45
4.20
1.84
-3.84
13.91
-2.99
---1.39
--4.66
3.62
7.23
-----1.25
1.71
-6.24
-5.13
2.10
3.22
2.63
-9.73
2.63
1.38
15.78
4.67
2.33
8.22
1.45
--
Total number of fungi
42
30
43
41
45
40
57
51
Albugo
Alternaria alternate
A. Padwickii
Aureobasidium pullulans
Aspergillus awamori
A. niger
Chaetomium globosum
Cladosporium
C. cladosporioides
C. colocasiae
C. herbarum
C. oxysporum
C. sphaerospermum
Colletotrichum
Curvularia andropogonis
C. eragrostidis
C. lunate
C. pallescens
Drechslera australiensis
D. rostrata
Epicoccum
Fusarium oxysporum
Gray sterile mycelia
Hyphalfragments
Lasiodiplodia sp.
Leptosphaeria
Nigrospora sphaerica
Periconia
Pestalotia sp.
Unidentified spores
Thielavia terricola
RM
2.37
4.67
1.58
--
cP, culture plate method; RM, rotorod method.
known
as
breeder's
1994),
A.
niger
pneumonia
A.
and
in
poultry
(Nayak,
were
recorded
awamori
abundantly.
were
and the widest variety of fungal
recorded
at
noon
followed
by
morning
and
evening values. This difference in the total
ber
of
noon,
spores
might
be
which, enhancing
due
wind
to
the
temperature
substrata
thus
in the
giving rise to
atmosphere
morning,
spore
Moreover
wind
noon
the
hours
of
turbulence
1991).
the
(Srivastava
the evening might
low
Both
was much
events
concentration
Cladosporium s p o r e s
cally during
morning
in the
evening.
dantly
found
persal
of
of spores from
higher
amounts
spore
have
concentra-
Early
in the
by dew
weaker
might
during
second
small water
the
was
the
spores
the
maximum
occurrence
of
rather
winter.
in
winter,
than
particles
plates,
(mist) found
1971),
specifi-
at noon
fungi
In addition,
(Ingold,
in culture
to the
1994). W i t h
recorded
hours
and
(Nayak,
Cladosporia a r e s e a s o n a l
during
these
half of the day
daytime
method
at
1984).
dispersal was hindered
(Pedgley,
cause
higher
(Kumar,
plate
been
speed, might
causative in dispersing higher amounts
tion
num-
in t h e
spore settling during
culture
Peak concentration
spores
sporulation
and
abun-
the
recorded
is e n h a n c e d
by
disin
the
early in the morn-
ing.
drops.
than
have
at
been
Acknowledgements
morning
e t al., 1990). A l o w s p o r e p r o f i l e i n
be due to the lower humidity,
non
Dr
New
Bijaya
Kumar
Nayak
is g r a t e f u l
Delhi for financial assistance.
to
the
CSIR,
B.K. Nayak et al. / Aerobiologia 14 (1998) 59-67
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