Seasonal and Spatial Variations of Bioaerosols in Indoor Urban Environments, Ankara, Turkey

Abstract

Seasonal and spatial variations of both levels and characteristics of airborne bacteria and fungi in various types of non-complaint indoor environments and their outdoors were investigated. Bioaerosol samples were collected by the single-stage Andersen sampler during the winter and summer seasons in Ankara, Turkey. Indoor and outdoor temperature, relative humidity (RH) and CO2 concentrations were also monitored online during the sampling. Bacteria levels in apartments were found to be considerably elevated when people were present. Significant relationships between bioaerosol levels and RH and CO2 concentrations (p < 0.05) were found. Bacteria levels exhibited a seasonal variation, while fungi levels did not, probably due to lower fungi concentrations occurrence as a result of lower RH values (median: 30%). Measured low levels of fungi in this study may be due to geographical conditions, climatic factors, and other environmental conditions. The indoor to outdoor (I/O) ratio for bacteria levels were found to be significantly higher than 1.0, while indoor and outdoor fungi levels were similar. Winter to summer (W/S) ratios in the sampling site groups varied on a large scale for both culturable fungi concentrations (0.24-19.59) and total bacteria count (0.16-6.59). The most prominent bacteria were Micrococcus spp., Staphylococcus spp. and Bacillus spp., while the most predominant fungi were Penicillium spp., Aspergillus spp. and Cladosporium spp.