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Free Tropospheric Transport of Microorganisms from Asia to North America

Overview of attention for article published in Microbial Ecology, July 2012
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (92nd percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (99th percentile)

Mentioned by

blogs
1 blog
policy
1 policy source
twitter
8 X users
wikipedia
1 Wikipedia page

Citations

dimensions_citation
125 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
137 Mendeley
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Title
Free Tropospheric Transport of Microorganisms from Asia to North America
Published in
Microbial Ecology, July 2012
DOI 10.1007/s00248-012-0088-9
Pubmed ID
Authors

David J. Smith, Daniel A. Jaffe, Michele N. Birmele, Dale W. Griffin, Andrew C. Schuerger, Jonathan Hee, Michael S. Roberts

Abstract

Microorganisms are abundant in the troposphere and can be transported vast distances on prevailing winds. This study measures the abundance and diversity of airborne bacteria and fungi sampled at the Mt. Bachelor Observatory (located 2.7 km above sea level in North America) where incoming free tropospheric air routinely arrives from distant sources across the Pacific Ocean, including Asia. Overall deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) concentrations for microorganisms in the free troposphere, derived from quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays, averaged 4.94 × 10(-5) ng DNA m(-3) for bacteria and 4.77 × 10(-3) ng DNA m(-3) for fungi. Aerosols occasionally corresponded with microbial abundance, most often in the springtime. Viable cells were recovered from 27.4 % of bacterial and 47.6 % of fungal samples (N = 124), with 49 different species identified by ribosomal DNA gene sequencing. The number of microbial isolates rose significantly above baseline values on 22-23 April 2011 and 13-15 May 2011. Both events were analyzed in detail, revealing distinct free tropospheric chemistries (e.g., low water vapor, high aerosols, carbon monoxide, and ozone) useful for ruling out boundary layer contamination. Kinematic back trajectory modeling suggested air from these events probably originated near China or Japan. Even after traveling for 10 days across the Pacific Ocean in the free troposphere, diverse and viable microbial populations, including presumptive plant pathogens Alternaria infectoria and Chaetomium globosum, were detected in Asian air samples. Establishing a connection between the intercontinental transport of microorganisms and specific diseases in North America will require follow-up investigations on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 8 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 137 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 3 2%
France 2 1%
Japan 2 1%
Canada 1 <1%
Italy 1 <1%
United Kingdom 1 <1%
Mexico 1 <1%
Unknown 126 92%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 28 20%
Researcher 21 15%
Student > Master 13 9%
Professor > Associate Professor 12 9%
Student > Bachelor 10 7%
Other 29 21%
Unknown 24 18%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 37 27%
Environmental Science 30 22%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 13 9%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 12 9%
Engineering 6 4%
Other 12 9%
Unknown 27 20%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 18. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 09 August 2021.
All research outputs
#2,065,529
of 25,246,334 outputs
Outputs from Microbial Ecology
#82
of 2,191 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#12,190
of 170,237 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Microbial Ecology
#1
of 11 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,246,334 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 91st percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,191 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.3. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 170,237 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 11 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.