title: Richness and diversity in dust stormborne biomes at the southeast mediterranean.
abstract: Dust storms include particulate matter that is transported over land and sea with biota that could impact downwind ecosystems. In addition to the physico-chemical compositions, organismal diversities of dust from two storm events in southern Israel, December 2012 (Ev12) and January 2013 (Ev13), were determined by pyro-sequencing using primers universal to 16S and 18S rRNA genes and compared. The bio-assemblages in the collected dust samples were affiliated with scores of different taxa. Distinct patterns of richness and diversity of the two events were influenced by the origins of the air masses: Ev13 was rich with reads affiliated to Betaproteobacteria and Embryophyta, consistent with a European origin. Ev12, originated in north-Africa, contained significantly more of the Actinobacteria and fungi, without conifers. The abundance of bacterial and eukaryotic reads demonstrates dissemination of biological material in dust that may impose health hazards of pathogens and allergens, and influence vegetation migration throughout the world.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, Be'er-Sheva, 84104, Israel.
authors.forename: Itzhak
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Katra
authors.affiliation: Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, Be'er-Sheva, 84104, Israel.
authors.forename: Luba
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Arotsker
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, Be'er-Sheva, 84104, Israel.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Krasnov
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, Be'er-Sheva, 84104, Israel.
authors.forename: Arieh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zaritsky
authors.affiliation: 1] Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, Be'er-Sheva, 84104, Israel [2] National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, Be'er-Sheva, 84104, Israel [3] School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637819 (Singapore).
authors.forename: Ariel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kushmaro
authors.affiliation: 1] National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, Be'er-Sheva, 84104, Israel [2] Department of Life Sciences, Achva Academic College MP Shikmim, 79800, Israel.
authors.forename: Eitan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ben-Dov
mesh_terms: D039903:Actinobacteria; D020562:Betaproteobacteria; D004391:Dust; D017753:Ecosystem; D019669:Embryophyta; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D005658:Fungi; D007557:Israel; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D004391:Dust; D052638:Particulate Matter