Aerobiology of an environment with natural vegetation of the southwest Buenos Aires (Argentina)

CASTILLO LUCIANA ALICIA; MURRAY MARÍA GABRIELA; BIANCHINOTTI MARÍA VIRGINIA

Paraná

Simposio; XVII Simposio Argentino de Paleobotánica y Palinología; 2018

Asociación Latinoamericana de Paleobotánica y Palinología / Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos

The study of the aerobiology of natural environments provides information about the pollen grains and fungal spores to the atmosphere. In this sense, in Argentina the knowledge of the fungal biodiversity is still fragmentary. In some areas of the of Buenos Aires province with high ecological, landscape, social and/or economic value, there is a lack of fungal studies. The aim of this work is to establish a qualitative evaluation of the content of fungal spores present in the atmosphere of the Salitral of la Vidriera, a saltmarsh located in the SW of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. The monitoring was carried out with a μCoriolis Air Sampler during the four seasons of the year. From the obtained sample, isolations were made in MEA (malt extract agar), colonies were estimated as CFU/m3 and genera were identified with traditional methods. Also, spores were counted with an optical microscope (spores/m3). The viable spore types identified belonged mainly to Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporium and Rhizopus. In the spore counts, Alternaria and Cladosporium were detected in the four studied seasons, while Epicoccum, Nigrospora, Dreschlera-Bipolaris type, basidiospores s.l., Leptosphaeria, Periconia, Stemphyllium, Torula and uredinospores, presented a seasonal behavior. The most abundant spores were those of Cladosporium and Alternaria. The methodology used allowed to detect the presence of Penicillium, Aspergillus and Rhizopus, which had not been previously evidenced using equipment of non-viable methodology. We can conclude that the use of the μCoriolis equipment is important when the environment is completely characterized.