Environmental Factors Affecting Diversity, Structure, and Temporal Variation of Airborne Fungal Communities in a Research and Teaching Building of Tianjin University, China

Abstract

Airborne fungi are widely distributed in the environment and may have adverse effects on human health. A 12-month survey on the diversity and concentration of culturable airborne fungi was carried out in a research and teaching building of Tianjin University. Indoor and outdoor environments were analyzed using an HAS-100B air sampler. A total of 667 fungal strains, belonging to 160 species and 73 genera were isolated and identified based on morphological and molecular analysis. The most abundant fungal genera were Alternaria (38.57%), Cladosporium (21.49%), and Aspergillus (5.34%), while the most frequently appearing species was A. alternata (21%), followed by A. tenuissima (12.4%), and C. cladosporioides (9.3%). The concentration of fungi in different environments ranged from 0 to 150 CFU/m3 and was significantly higher outdoor than indoor. Temperature and sampling month were significant factors influencing the whole building fungal community, while relative humidity and wind speed were highly correlated with fungal composition outdoor. Variations in the relative abundance of major airborne fungal taxa at different heights above-ground could lead to different community structures at different floors. Our results may provide valuable information for air quality monitoring and microbial pollution control in university building environments.