Abstract
Atmospheric bioaerosols, which contain a diverse group of various biological materials, also include pathogenic microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria, and fungal spores. The dispersal of various pathogens negatively impacts the human and ecosystem health. While the impact of pathogenic bacteria and viruses on human and ecosystem health is well documented, the impact of fungal spores on crop, however, is poorly characterized. An unprecedented increase in number of fungal and fungal-like diseases (emerging fungal diseases (EFDs)) in plants is threatening the food security and endangering the biodiversity. In present communication, we show an increasing trend in the fungal bioaerosol attacks on crops over India outstripping bacteria and viruses. We further argue about the complex interactions between the fungal species, and crop impact over India is unique and highly interconnected with the topography, meteorological variables, and season of the year. Under constantly warming scenario, the fungal attacks on plants are expected to rise and, in all likelihood, extend to the sensitive and fragile ecosystems like the Himalayan region and the Western Ghats. An increasing trend in EFDs calls for immediate coordinated efforts towards understanding the type and diversity of pathogenic fungal bioaerosols. There is, however, a lack over Indian region about biogeography of pathogenic fungi. The detailed biogeography would help in improving public and political awareness to formulate the effective policy decisions. Any further disregard and delay in recognizing the importance of EFDs to crop and sensitive ecosystems can have severe societal and ecological repercussions over Indian region.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank ProMED for making the database about the fungal alerts publicly available. Authors are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments, which have greatly helped us to improve the overall scope of the manuscript.
Funding
This work is supported under the project sanctioned by the IITM-ISRO cell at IIT Madras for studying the impact of fungal attacks on the crops and plants. SSG received partial financial support from Max Planck Partner Group on Bioaerosol research at IIT Madras and DST – IGCS at IIT Madras (DST; sanction number: DST/CCP/CoE/141/2018C).
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Yadav, S., Gettu, N., Swain, B. et al. Bioaerosol impact on crop health over India due to emerging fungal diseases (EFDs): an important missing link. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 12802–12829 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08059-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08059-x