Abstract
Bioaerosols have gained importance in atmospheric sciences in the past few decades. Their exposure upsurges the health problems in sensitive population and is also known to participate in atmospheric chemistry. The present study assesses the monthly distribution of bioaerosol load at four different microenvironments inside an academic institute in Kanpur situated in Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). The study duration was from November 2017 to April 2018. The measured total bioaerosol concentrations were highest during April (418–610 CFU/m3) at all sites followed by the post-monsoon month of November (369–577 CFU/m3). The winter period showed low concentrations with lowest concentration obtained in January (251–419 CFU/m3). The indoor–outdoor (I/O) bioaerosol ratio was mostly less than one for bacteria depending on microenvironment, but for fungi it was always less than one. The Gram-positive bacteria (GPB) comprised 70–80% of total bacterial concentration, while Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) contributed 20–30% to bacterial concentration in ambient air. The bacterial genera were mostly dominated by Bacillus, Staphylococcus, Micrococcus, Streptococcus, and Enterococcus, while the fungal genera of Aspergillus, Penicillium, Rhizopus, Cladosporium, Basidiobolus, and Epidermophyton were seen in the campus. The statistical analysis showed a weak positive correlation of bioaerosol concentration with meteorological parameters: temperature and relative humidity (RH).
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This study was financially supported through internal funds from IIT Kanpur. We also acknowledge partial funding support to Dr. Tarun Gupta from Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) for providing funds for this study (Grant# EMR/2016/005596).
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Gupta, A.D., Srivastava, V. & Gupta, T. Seasonal bioaerosol load and statistical analysis within different microenvironments of an academic institute situated in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Aerobiologia 37, 663–680 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10453-021-09715-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10453-021-09715-6