Work Package Number WP1
Lead Beneficiary FEM
Participants FEM, BioEnv-GU, AU-ENVS, UEVORA, AIT
Work Package Name Experimental design, aerobiological sampling and analysis
Start Month 1 End Month 27
Objectives The general objective of WP1 is to assess the aerobiome of five case-study cities with different density, types, and protective states of Urban Green Elements (UGE), in an interdisciplinary and citizen science approach.
Activities
Airborne diversity in urban zones such as urban protected ecosystems, green roofing, indoor plants, and wild urban gardens will be assessed by collecting air samples and analyzing them with state-of-the-art molecular techniques.
Aerobiological sampling campaigns will be performed in the five case-study cities located in different biogeographical regions spread all over Europe.
Networks of passive samplers collecting bioaerosols will be installed.
Samples will be taken over the course of one year, involving citizen science approaches to maintain and monitor the correct functioning of the bioaerosol traps.
These samples will allow to characterize the airborne biodiversity in, near and away from urban green elements by a multidisciplinary approach, i.e., environmental DNA (eDNA) and light microscopy (LM) analyses.
eDNA sequencing of bioaerosols will be used to taxonomically classify airborne pollen, spores and bacteria at an unprecedented detailed level.
Micromorphological analyses will be performed on replicate samples to complement the qualitative data from eDNA sequencing, with quantitative estimation of airborne pollen and fungal spores.