Large amounts of microorganisms are continuously exchanged among ecosystems through the atmosphere. Wind can transport them thousands of kilometers, and can influence the microbial diversity of very disperse communities. We wanted to study this influence by comparing airborne and marine communities regarding their distance to the coast of Barcelona over a period of 4 months. We determined and quantified different groups of bacteria by CAtalyzed Reporter Deposition Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (CARD-FISH), a technique that has not been tested before in airborne bacteria. The probes used were selected to target relevant groups of marine or airborrne bacteria such as Betaproteobacteria, SAR11, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. Our results show that marine and airborne microbial communities are clearly different, but weak differences were found between air communities, or between marine ones, or due to other factors such as wind, temperature or rain, nor did it show gradual changes over the months. Even though our probes were targeted based on marine observations, we have obtained considerably good results regarding its dynamics so it could be useful for future investigations on airborne microbial communities

Trabajo final presentado por Ulises Lora Romero para el grado de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona (UB), realizado bajo la dirección del Dr. Jordi Urmeneta de la Universitat de Barcelona (UB) y de la Dra. Maria Montserrat Sala del Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC).-- 38 pages, 22 figures, annexes

Peer reviewed