RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Vertical Stratification in Urban Green Space Aerobiomes JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2020.06.28.176743 DO 10.1101/2020.06.28.176743 A1 Jake M. Robinson A1 Christian Cando-Dumancela A1 Craig Liddicoat A1 Philip Weinstein A1 Ross Cameron A1 Martin F. Breed YR 2020 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/06/29/2020.06.28.176743.abstract AB Exposure to a diverse environmental microbiome is thought to play an important role in ‘educating’ the immune system and facilitating competitive exclusion of pathogens to maintain human health. Vegetation and soil are known to be key sources of airborne microbiota––the aerobiome. Only a limited number of studies have attempted to characterise the dynamics of the aerobiome, and no studies to date have investigated these dynamics from a vertical perspective simulating human exposure. Studies of pollution and allergenic pollen show vertical stratification at various scales, and present an expectation that such vertical stratification may also be present in the aerobiome. Such stratification could have important implications for public health and for the design, engineering and management of urban green spaces. For example, do children receive the same exposure to airborne microbiota as taller adults, and what are the downstream implications for health? In this study, we combine an innovative columnar sampling method at soil level, 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 m together with high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene to assess whether significant vertical stratification of the aerobiome occurred in a parkland habitat in Adelaide, South Australia. Our results provide evidence of vertical stratification in both alpha and beta (compositional) diversity of airborne bacterial communities, with diversity increasing roughly with height. We also found significant vertical stratification in known pathogenic and beneficial bacterial taxa, suggesting potentially different exposure attributes between adults and children. These results could have important implications for public health and urban planning, potentially informing ways to optimise the design and management of health-promoting urban green spaces.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.