PICO
Microorganisms – comprising bacteria, archaea, viruses, protists, and fungi – play vital roles in nutrient cycling and maintaining ecological balance. Microbial cells from surface environments are continuously aerosolized, with the atmosphere playing a major role in their transport and redistribution across temporal and spatial scales.
While extensive research has been dedicated to characterizing the cryo-, litho-, hydro-, and phyllo-spheres as microbial habitats, studies on atmospheric microorganisms have largely focused on their abundance, diversity, and potential climatic and sanitary implications. However, the atmosphere is not merely an inert medium but instead hosts airborne living cells that both influence and are influenced by biological, chemical, and physical processes, contributing to the intricate web of life on our planet.
Understanding microbial life in the atmosphere is essential for deciphering drivers of atmospheric composition, processes, and biogeochemical cycles. Atmospheric microorganisms are closely interlinked with surface habitats and can shape local, regional, and global microbial biodiversity and biogeography. To develop a more complete understanding of the planet’s microbiome, it is therefore critical to identify the chemical, physical and biological factors that shape the diversity, activity, and functioning of atmospheric microbial populations. Such factors include emission and deposition, exposure and response to atmospheric stressors (e.g. oxidants, water and nutrient availability), and the intrinsic traits of the microorganisms themselves.
This session will provide an interdisciplinary platform for all atmospheric scientists, biogeoscientists, microbiologists, and others interested in aerial transport of living microorganisms, microbial processes in the atmosphere, and their feedbacks on the Earth’s surface systems (water, soil, vegetation, ice). We welcome contributions that advance understanding of atmospheric microbiome, its interactions with the atmosphere and surface environments, and the processes that shape microbial diversity, concentrations, interactions, survival, dispersal, and functioning.