Dear colleagues,
next week we will have a seminar (via zoom, link below) on Thu 28th, at 14:15, given by
Prof. Claire G. Williams, American University Washington DC, on
"Atmospheric Biology & Its Connections to Forests, Human Health & Climate"
As this seminar has a topic that likely interests also colleagues outside the Ecology and genetics unit, please feel free to distribute this to relevant mailing lists at other units!
See you online in a week,
take care,
Heikki
Atmospheric Biology & Its Connections to Forests, Human Health & Climate
Abstract:
Atmospheric biology, a neglected discipline, is a unifying theme at the forest-atmosphere interface. Pine pollen, a coarse bioaerosol, is a model biological system which serves as a tracer bioparticle for long-range transport. As such, this area of research has a growing relevance to dispersal ecology, forest genetics and beyond.
Atmospheric biology in the early 19th century expanded in parallel to transport technology, from sailing ships, aviation, freighters, weather instruments to drones. Atmospheric biology was lost to the U.S. science community in the decades after World War II yet it thrived in east Germany and other parts of the former Soviet Union where atmospheric biology research was central to atmospheric sciences. Atmospheric particles included biological and non-biological components. What has emerged today is atmospheric biology research informing air pollution regulation, human health and climate change.
Consider this example: air pollution regulations worldwide are based on particulate matter (PM) size classes PM10 and PM2.5 which refer to respirable and systemic particles, respectively. Here is where similarity between U.S. and Europe. Regulations are now shaped by two schools of thought: (1) PM composition = combustion pollution as the U.S. paradigm and (2) PM composition = combustion pollution + atmospheric biota as the European paradigm. Only in the latter case can we detect neo-allergens, or a new class of bioparticles agglomerated to combustion pollutant particles. Neo-allergens are thought to be one of the causes behind rising human respiratory disease rates in affluent cities worldwide. With these and other examples, we see that the study of atmospheric biology, or aerobiology, can providing policy-relevant scientific insights on all spatial scales, from local to global.
Heikki Helanterä is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Biology Thursday seminar: Prof. Claire Williams
Time: May 21, 2020 02:00 PM Helsinki
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Meeting ID: 625 9896 1734
Password: 933234
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=============================================== Heikki Helanterä Associate Professor (tenure track) Ekologian ja genetiikan tutkimusyksikkö / Ecology and Genetics Research Unit Oulun Yliopisto / University of Oulu / Finland heikki.helantera@oulu.fimailto:heikki.helantera@oulu.fi +358-40-7507 334