Study of the monthly fluctuation of fungal load in the air of a tropical dry deciduous forest

Abstract

Few aeromycological studies were conducted in Indian forest environments to determine the monthly variation of fungal spores in the air. A one-year aeromycological study was conducted to analyse the fluctuation of airborne fungi in the atmosphere of the tropical dry deciduous forest in the Purulia district of West Bengal, India. The airborne fungi were isolated through exposure of Petri plates containing potato dextrose agar with chloramphenicol as an isolation medium. In this study, 19 fungal taxa were isolated, of which 2 belonged to the Mucoromycota and 17 to the Ascomycota. A total load of 16,257 CFU m⁻² of fungi was found during this aeromycological investigation. Cladosporium sp. (9.79%), Curvularia sp. (8.51%), Alternaria sp. (8.05%), Aspergillus sp. (7.67%), and Fusarium sp. (6.83%) were identified as the most prevalent in the air. The winter months of December (12.37%) had the highest atmospheric fungal load, followed by January (12.31%) and November (10.70%). Simultaneously, the environmental parameters were also recorded to detect the environmental influence on airborne spore load. The information gained from the current study also contributes to our understanding of the fungal genera that are present in the air of tropical dry deciduous forests.