Impacts of Freshwater Salinization on Aerosolized Bacteria

Unlike the relatively large body of literature on sea spray aerosols, aerosolization from breaking waves in freshwater systems is far less studied. In particular, the transfer of freshwater bacteria to the atmosphere by breaking waves and the ensuing bursting of whitecap bubbles is still relatively unexplored. Freshwater salinization, due to anthropogenic stressors, affects bacterial aerosolization by altering the physical processes of bubble bursting in breaking wave's whitecaps. Moreover, even low salt concentrations affect the structure and diversity of freshwater bacterial communities. The goal of this study is to understand the correlation between freshwater salinization and the abundance and diversity of aerosolized bacteria. Identification of airborne bacterial species is important to detect the emission of any pathogenic strains that might be transferred to humans via inhalation. Systematic experiments are carried in a wave breaking analogue tank to simulate bacterial emissions from whitecaps in freshwater samples exposed to low salt concentrations. Offline analysis of collected bacterial communities and DNA sequencing is used to characterize the fluxes and species of aerosolized bacteria.