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Plumes across the Pacific Deliver Thousands of Microbial Species to West Coast

By Guest PostDecember 20, 2012Environmentaerobiology, aerosol, air pollution, aircraft, asia, atmospheric particle, bacterial, balloons, biomass, cascade mountains, central oregon, dale griffin, daniel jaffe, david j smith, dilution, DNA, dust, dust plume, earth, ecosystem, fungal, global wind circulation, harmless, hilkka timonen, kevin perry, michael roberts, michele birmele, microorganism, molecular method, mount bachelor, NASA, North America, old classification, pacific ocean, peter ward, plume event, pollutant, traditional paradigm, trans pacific trip, troposphere, university of utah, university of washington, west coast

A surprising number of microorganisms – more than 100 times more kinds than reported just four months ago – are leaping the biggest gap on the planet. Hitching rides in the upper troposphere, they’re making their way from Asia across the Pacific Ocean and landing in North America.

For the first time researchers have been able to gather enough biomass in the form of DNA to apply molecular methods to samples from two large dust plumes originating in Asia in the spring of 2011. The scientists detected more than 2,100 unique species compared to only 18 found in the very same plumes using traditional methods of culturing, results they published in July. (more…)

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Plumes across the Pacific Deliver Thousands of Microbial Species to West Coast