Urban Aerobiome

My PhD focused on understanding drivers of urban airborne microbial communities (aerobiome). Chapters from my dissertation were published in Science of the Total Environment, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, and EcoHealth.

Briefly, variation in exposure to environmental microbial communities has been implicated in the etiology of allergies, asthma and other chronic and immune disorders. In particular, preliminary research suggests that exposure to a high diversity of microbes during early life, for example through living in highly vegetated environments like farms or forests, may have specific health benefits, including immune system development and stimulation. In the face of rapid urbanization and potential reductions in urban greenspace, it is vital to clarify our understanding of the relationship between vegetation and microbial communities so that we can better design cities that support human health.

To explore whether and how urban airborne bacterial communities vary with the amount and structural diversity of nearby vegetation, I used passive air sampling and culture-independent microbial DNA sequencing combined with more traditional landscape architecture tools, including geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing data. Results indicated that locations with little vegetation (i.e., paved parking lots) were marked by significantly different bacterial composition from areas that were heavily vegetated (parks and forests). These differences were largely driven by taxonomic groups and indicator species that were enriched at certain sites. My work also shows that regional agricultural activities during the summer may have a substantial effect on airborne bacterial communities in the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area (Oregon), specifically through elevated abundance of Sphingomonas faeni, a taxon previously isolated from hay dust.