An overview on bioaerosols viewed by scanning electron microscopy

Bioaerosols suspended in ambient air were collected with single-stage impactors at a semiurban site in southern Germany during late summer and early autumn. Sampling was mostly carried out at a nozzle velocity of 35 m/s, corresponding to a minimum aerodynamic diameter (cut-off diameter) of aerosol particles of 0.8 μm. The collected particles, sampled for short periods (∼15 min) to avoid pile-up, were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The observed bioaerosols include brochosomes, fungal spores, hyphae, insect scales, hairs of plants and, less commonly, bacteria and epicuticular wax. Brochosomes, which serve as a highly water repellent body coating of leafhoppers, are hollow spheroids with diameters around 400 nm, resembling C60 or footballs (soccer balls). They are usually airborne not as individuals but in the form of large clusters containing up to 10,000 individual species or even more. Various types of spores and scales were observed, but assignment turned out be difficult due to the large number of fungi and insects from which they may have originated. Pollens were observed only once. The absence these presumably elastic particles suggests that they are frequently lost, at the comparatively high velocities, due to bounce-off from the nonadhesive impaction surfaces.