Different Experiences in Monitoring Fungal Bioaerosol in Northern Italy

Aeromycology is a scientific discipline focused on the origin, release, transport and surface impact of airborne fungi in both outdoor and indoor environments. In the last few years it has deserved increasing interest not only for aerobiologists and related scientists, but also for professionals working in fields such as medicine, public health, industrial and environmental hygiene, biological sciences, agriculture, environmental science and cultural heritage. Our experience in Aeromycology focuses both on the outdoor environment, monitoring plant pathogens to provide farmers with an early warning of the risk of infection, and indoor environments for biomedical implications. Some of our experiences concerning researches carried out in different crops (rice and tomato fields, vineyard) and in greenhouses, scholastic sport environments and wineries in Northern Italy are reported here. The results obtained confirm that the outdoor atmosphere is influenced by climatic conditions and, subsequently by vegetation; airborne fungal counts and types may vary over different areas depending on vegetation type, weather conditions and geographical region. In our experience the results obtained showed that in general the same taxa were dominant in both indoor and outdoor air, thus confirming that indoor air is influenced by outdoor air. Moreover, the indoor characteristics and, first of all, the availability of colonisable substrates, (presence of surface with adequate nutritional substrates, materials or everything inside) can influence the nature of fungal bioaerosol.