UC San Diego

Environmental processes aerosolize bacteria from the seawater and into the atmosphere. In the sea surface-atmospheric boundary layer (SSABL), two very distinct biomes can overlap. The SSABL's microbiota fluctuates between the two environments. Airborne microbiological habitats have few microbes, while the coastal sea surface has one of the most diverse microbial ecosystems.Because of the ecosystem's variability, it is hard to paint the whole picture due to the region's significant daily irregularity, and addressing its criteria is a significant endeavor. We faced challenges in refining our equipment for 21st-century microbiome analysis. Our design addressed equipment sterilization and low abundance in sample collection. Our approach aggregated the data over a month, delivering a glimpse of this dynamic ecological environment. This study aimed to characterize the SSABL community structure by identifying taxa likely to inhabit the interface and determining how similar these populations are to the parent marine community. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and flow cytometry, airborne samples were compared to marine samples. We found a link between meteorological conditions and the SSABL community by tracking air masses to the Scripps Pier with NOAA's HYSPLIT model. Oceanic air masses are a component in influencing a site's community composition. Thus, we detected aerosolized marine taxa. We then describe factors influencing microbiome makeup using multiple regression and environmental variable ordination.