Title: Fungal spores as a source of sodium salt particles in the Amazon basin

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [5];  [6]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [8]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [9];  [10]; ORCiD logo [11]
  1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  2. Xiamen Univ., Xiamen (China)
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. Wurzburg, Wurzburg (Germany)
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  5. Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz (Germany)
  6. Univ. Federal de Sao Paulo, Diadema, SP (Brazil)
  7. Univ. of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil); Univ. Lille, Lille (France)
  8. Federal Univ. of Para, Belem (Brazil)
  9. Univ. of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil)
  10. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  11. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)

Salt containing aerosols play important roles in atmospheric chemistry and cloud formation, hence understanding and observationally constraining their sources are vital. In the Amazon basin, particles containing mixed sodium salts are routinely attributed to marine aerosols transported from the Atlantic Ocean. Here, using detailed chemical imaging analysis, we show that fungal spores emitted by the forest biosphere contribute to at least 30% (by number) of sodium salt particles observed in the central Amazon basin. Hydration experiments, using environmental microreactors complemented with micro32 spectroscopy analysis, we show that sodium-containing fungal spores have higher hygroscopic growth than sodium-free spores and their sodium content determines their growth factors. Modeling results suggest that fungal spores account for ~62% of the total sodium mass during the wet season and that their fractional contribution increases during nighttime. In sharp contrast with the assumption that sodium-containing aerosols arise solely from marine sources, our results suggest that locally-emitted fungal spores containing sodium contribute substantially to the number and mass of coarse particles containing Na and Cl (similar to sea salt). Furthermore, their role in cloud formation and contribution to salt cycles and the terrestrial ecosystem in the Amazon basin warrant further consideration.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1483630
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-130861
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 9; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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