Significant contributions of fungal spores to the organic carbon and to the aerosol mass balance of the urban atmospheric aerosol

Fungal spores are ubiquitous components of atmospheric aerosols and are therefore also contributors to the organic carbon (OC) component and to the mass of PM10 (PM—particulate matter) aerosols. In this study we use spore counts and an experimentally derived factor of 13 pg C and of 33 pg fresh weight per spore for assessing quantitatively the contribution to OC and PM10. The concentrations of airborne fungal spores were determined at a suburban (Schafberg) and a traffic-dominated urban site (Rinnböckstrasse) in Vienna, Austria, during spring and summer. Fungal spores OC ranged from 22 to 677 ng m−3 with a summer mean value of around 350 ng m−3 at the suburban site and 300 ng m−3 at the urban traffic site. At the suburban site fungal spores contributed on average 6% in spring and 14% in summer to aerosol OC mass concentration. At the traffic-dominated site fungal spores accounted for 2% of OC in spring and for 8% in summer. The fungal contribution to PM10 was also notable and amounted to 3% and 7% at the suburban and to 1% and 4% at the urban site in spring and summer, respectively. Impactor measurements of OC at the suburban site showed that in summer fungal spores were predominant contributors to the coarse aerosol OC, and accounted on average for 60% of the OC in the PM2−10 fraction. Fungal spores thus can be regarded as main components to PM10, total OC and, most importantly, coarse OC even in urban areas.