Mayol Eva, Arrieta Jesús M, Jiménez Maria A, Martínez-Asensio Adrián, Garcias-Bonet Neus, Dachs Jordi, González-Gaya Belén, Royer Sarah-J, Benítez-Barrios Verónica M, Fraile-Nuez Eugenio, Duarte Carlos M
Department of Global Change Research, Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA), Spanish Council for Scientific Research - University of the Balearic Islands (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Mallorca, Spain.
Institute of Littoral, Environment and Societies (LIENSs), National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) - University of La Rochelle, La Rochelle, France.
Nat Commun. 2017 Aug 4;8(1):201. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00110-9.
The atmosphere plays a fundamental role in the transport of microbes across the planet but it is often neglected as a microbial habitat. Although the ocean represents two thirds of the Earth's surface, there is little information on the atmospheric microbial load over the open ocean. Here we provide a global estimate of microbial loads and air-sea exchanges over the tropical and subtropical oceans based on the data collected along the Malaspina 2010 Circumnavigation Expedition. Total loads of airborne prokaryotes and eukaryotes were estimated at 2.2 × 10 and 2.1 × 10 cells, respectively. Overall 33-68% of these microorganisms could be traced to a marine origin, being transported thousands of kilometres before re-entering the ocean. Moreover, our results show a substantial load of terrestrial microbes transported over the oceans, with abundances declining exponentially with distance from land and indicate that islands may act as stepping stones facilitating the transoceanic transport of terrestrial microbes.The extent to which the ocean acts as a sink and source of airborne particles to the atmosphere is unresolved. Here, the authors report high microbial loads over the tropical Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans and propose islands as stepping stones for the transoceanic transport of terrestrial microbes..
大气在全球范围内微生物的传播中起着基础性作用,但它常被忽视作为一个微生物栖息地。尽管海洋占地球表面的三分之二,但关于公海上空大气中的微生物负荷的信息却很少。在此,我们基于2010年“马勒斯皮纳”环球航行考察所收集的数据,对热带和亚热带海洋上空的微生物负荷及海气交换进行了全球估算。空中原核生物和真核生物的总负荷估计分别为2.2×10和2.1×10个细胞。总体而言,这些微生物中有33% - 68%可追溯到海洋来源,在重新进入海洋之前被输送了数千公里。此外,我们的结果显示有大量陆地微生物被输送到海洋上空,其丰度随离陆地距离的增加呈指数下降,这表明岛屿可能充当促进陆地微生物跨洋传输的跳板。海洋作为大气中空气传播颗粒的汇和源的程度尚未明确。在此,作者报告了热带大西洋、太平洋和印度洋上空的高微生物负荷,并提出岛屿是陆地微生物跨洋传输的跳板。