The Atmospheric Microbiome – untangling complexity in the Polar regions

The number of aerobiological studies is increasing and whilst patterns are starting to emerge, it is also clear that the results tend to be study or site specific. This is not really surprising given the inherent complexity of the natural world and the continuously changing nature of the environment, with weather patterns, atmospheric layers, surface interactions, biogeographic distribution and temporal change all contributing to the challenge. For the Polar regions, overall complexity and environmental heterogeneity remain the greatest challenge in aerobiology having resolved detection limits, sample resolution and remote access issues. Hence, it is probably not surprising that where we look also tends to dictate what we find. Indeed, through work in both Polar regions, we have found that while there is both high heterogeneity and variability, there also might be patterns and an underlying core microbiome. However, one way to unlock this complexity further might be to focus on functional rather than taxonomic markers. In attempting such a transition, we found the underlying patterns were very different. With one eye on the forthcoming IPY in 2032-33, it might be worth considering a shift of emphasis towards specific functional marker genes and maybe develop a coordinated effort to look at a suite of such genes that could be important in the structure of the atmospheric microbiome and in atmospheric function.