Comparative analysis of HRM and GHRM.
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\r\n\tThe authors are cordially invited to express their knowledge and awareness in this domain, to share their unpublished clinical trials pertaining to any type of STT, to analyse any new data emerged from their studies and to display their information in a methodical way, so that we may present an original book with novel and useful medical material.
In today’s societies, the concepts like global competition, technological changes and development, communication, environment, and environmental problems are getting more and more common in everyday life with the acceleration of globalization. In this sense, societies, businesses, and individuals develop new dynamics to cope with this global change. Human resource constitutes the primary elements for change and development in organizations. On the other hand, environmental problems occur due to the human perception that the world resources are endless and offer free goods. Today, such problems with various destructive outcomes and impacts have become remarkable. Several environmental disasters, ranging from global warming to droughts, point out the severity of the problem. Significance of environmental problems has brought up the need for environment-conscious (green) activities in individual, organizational, and community levels. These activities are generally implemented on a voluntary basis, but sometimes implemented within the scope of legal obligations.
\nIn the 2000s, businesses began to take conscious acts to contribute to the green movement [1], and the concepts of environmental consciousness and environment-conscious (green) business have evolved. Environment-conscious (green) management as a business concept is defined as a management and business perception in which ecological environment is the primary issue in the activities and decisions of an organization [2], and such concepts targeting the optimum balance between economic and ecologic performance of a business in management are regarded as a process in which all management functions are integrated with environmental protection [3]. In other words, green management and business implies a transition from a perception which does not pay much attention to efficient use of natural resources and the production waste materials released to the environment without any treatment into a perception with an awareness of world’s limited natural resources and having and implementing this awareness as a business ethics [4]. An efficient implementation of such a perception has a great significance not only for a sustainable competitive advantage of businesses, but also for the future of mankind. However, the primary actor in making a business sensitive to environmental problems is human, and therefore, full implementation of such a management and business perception will not be possible when the businesses are not able to make their employees conscious about environment [5].
\nIn other words, for improved environmental performance and efficient environment-conscious (green) business, environmental consciousness should be taken into consideration in each and every human resources functions ranging from recruitment to training of employees, from performance assessment to rewarding. Briefly, with green human resources management (GHRM), businesses are able to create a win-win strategy and then can satisfy their employees and improve their environmental performance. Right at this point, identification of implementations and opinions of the business in this subject become a significant matter. As a result, GHRM and its actions are determined as a field of research. In the present study, green human resources management and practices were evaluated, significant issues were pointed out, and recommendations were provided for future researchers who wish to study on this field.
\nHuman resource constitutes a vital function for businesses. Rapid technological changes which occurred after the industrial revolution in the eighteenth century required a specialization in labor force and made human resource a significant aspect of production. Human resource has become a function encompassing entire people employed in the organization.
\nToday, human resource management undertakes not only recruitment, assessment, dismissal, and similar routine processes but also a managerial function and becomes an inseparable component of management like the other management functions. Therefore, human resource has a strategic significance today. It is quite significant in identification of organization vision, mission, and objectives [6]. In recent years, several businesses have employed a strategic tool known as green human resources management and pro-active implementations to gain a competitive advantage. Environmental management system includes a structure allowing a better control of environmental footprint the businesses leave. GHRM represents the most significant dimension of environmental management system.
\nToday, the businesses under ever-changing environmental conditions have to develop and implement environment-oriented strategies to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. However, the success of these strategies is totally dependent on proper selections and implementations. In this process, the condition for the success of businesses is the awareness of employee and responsibility in environmental protection. In recent years, businesses are under increasing pressure of environment-conscious production activities, and they have mostly amended their environmental regulation, but they didn’t feel necessity to change their human resource management. Therefore, most of the time they experienced various problems in the implementation of their environment-conscious strategies. They have to adapt their human resources factors to the changing conditions while implementing environment-conscious activities such as environment-friendly products, waste management techniques, introduction of green products, and establishment of new relations with various environmental partners. When they are not able to convince and motivate their employees about environmental consciousness, it is impossible to successfully apply such a strategy. In other words, the businesses without human resource who perceives environmental action as a life philosophy and acts accordingly will not be able to have environment-conscious implementations [1]. Therefore, sensitivity and commitment of employees in these programs are the pre-conditions for the success of environment-oriented programs [7]. In this sense, businesses carry out environment-conscious human resources management practices to create an awareness and commitment in their employees.
\nGreen human resource management (GHRM) is considered as a pre-condition for green management and business practices of organizations, and it is pointed out as the critical step for a sustainable competitive advantage. GHRM studies have begun at the end of 1990s and accelerated in the following decades. The relations of environment and environmental management issues with human resources of businesses are placed in literature as follows: Callenbach et al. indicated that within the scope of environmental management, businesses should assign their employees duties to fulfill their environmental responsibilities and should improve their awareness in environmental issues [8]; Welford indicated that environmental management can only be fulfilled through employee participation [9]; Milliman and Clair indicated that environmental management programs should be integrated with human resource management [10]; Wehrmeyer pointed out that an environmental management in a business can only be mentioned when the environmental values of businesses were formed and adopted by human resource professionals and stuffs of the business [11]. The book of Wehrmeyer [11] titled as “Greening People: Human Resources and Environmental Management” and the study of Revill [3] named as “The ‘Greening’ of Personel/Human Resource Management: An Assessment” are the pioneering works in GHRM literature. Sadgrove mentioned about green human resources managements forming a bond between human resource and environmental management practices [12]; Wehrmeyer classified the functions of green human resource management under the headings of recruitment of authorized stuff, stuff management, and support of organizational dynamics. On the other hand, Milliman and Clair formed a model classifying the functions of green human resource management as strategies, training, performance assessment, and rewarding and pointed out the need for proper organizational structures in which environmental management is harmonized with human resources [13]. Keog and Polonsky indicated that green vision, green objectives, green policy, and programs to fulfill environmental commitments of a business could only be possible through green human resource management [14].
\nDaily and Huang indicated the significance of human resources for the success of environmental management systems and reported that human resource may influence the performance [15]. Brio and Junquera indicated that environmental management was a quite complex process, but environment-conscious human resources contribute to environmental management [16]. Fernandez et al. emphasized the significance of environmental awareness employees, their participation in environmental activities, and training and motivation for the environmental strategies to be successful [17]. Govindarajulu and Daily claimed the significance of the parameter of human resources in environmental management systems [7]. Boudreau and Ramstad in a study revealed that sustainability principles could be upheld with strategic human resources planning and high level of environmental awareness [18]; however, they also indicated that sufficient interest hasn’t been created in this subject in literature. Jabbour and Santos determined human resources as the pre-condition for the success of environment-conscious management of organizations [19]. Akdoğan and Aykan stated that green human resource management practices became functional based on the perspectives of executives about the issue [5]. Mandip described GHRM as a management system integrating environmental management including employee participation and commitment in environmental sustainability with the practices of human resources [20]. According to Mishra et al., GHRM expresses an innovative process including human-oriented technological innovations and developments [21]. While Deshwal described GHRM as an organizational strategy to improve environmental consciousness of employees [22], Renwick et al. [23], Mohd-Yusoff and Mohd-Yusoff [24], Sheopuri and Sheopuri [25], Ahmad [26], Razab et al. [27], Arulrajah et al. [28], and Sharma [29] focused on GHRM practices as the critical success factors, a strategic tool, or a strategy for competitive advantage.
\nGreen human resource management targets human resources to bear an environmental responsibility in their tasks, to turn them into employees who are able to develop positive behaviors with other co-workers, to present new ideas and recommendations, and thus to enable the implementation of environmental programs. The basic target actually is to motivate employees, to turn them into environment-conscious individuals, and to improve environmental performance of the organizations.
\nThe characteristics of traditional human resource management and green human resources management are briefly provided and compared in Table 1 [3].
\n\n | HRM | \nGHRM | \n
---|---|---|
Beliefs and assumptions | \nCentral vision and shared Values Strong culture | \nCentrally shared environmental Vision Environmental culture | \n
Strategic driven | \nPeople Strategic driven Pursuit of excellence and competitive advantage | \nPeople Cross-functionally driven pursuit of environmental excellence and sustainable practices | \n
Management direction | \nSystems structure Supervisory and change leadership Two-way relationship and personal control | \nSystems structure and institutionalize Policy champion and change leadership two-way relationship and open dialogue | \n
Management direction | \nCommitment and teamwork Recruitment and selection Appraisal and reward Training, development, and learning | \nEnvironmental commitment and teamwork Environmental recruitment and selection Environmental appraisal and reward Environmental training, Development, and learning | \n
As it was seen in Table 1, the basic difference between human resources management and environment-conscious (green) human resources management is the sustainable and environment-oriented perception in environment-conscious human resources management. While the characteristics like perfection, competitive advantage, and inspector leadership are prominent in human resource management, environmental sustainability and evolutionary leadership that help to develop and implement environmental policies are prominent in environment-conscious human resource management.
\nWithin this perspective in general, green HRM also uses the HRM policies to support the sustainable use of resources within organizations, which contribute to the environment sustainability. The term “Green HRM” is most regularly used to refer to the concern of people about management policies and practices of the broader corporate environmental schedule [22]. Renwick et al. defined GHRM as the human resources dimension of environmental management system and the influence of employees on environmental performance outcomes within the frame of Ability-Motivation-Opportunity (AMO) theory [23] (ability—recruitment and development of highly qualified employees; motivation—improvement of employee commitment and motivation through efficient rewarding and performance management; opportunity—providing employee participation in the process of problem solving by sharing information with them and providing opportunities).
\nRenwick et al. [33] and Deshwal [22] have explained that GHRM involves an integration of company’s environmental management objectives to the HR processes of recruitment and selection, job description, training and development, health and safety at work, performance management and evaluation, talent management, succession and career planning and rewards, etc. and have highlighted the necessity of implementation of rigorous recruitment and selection of employees, performance-based appraisal system, and introduction of developmental programs aimed at increasing the employees’ environmental awareness.
\nZoogah indicated that GHRM makes the human resources practice, philosophy, and policies sustainable business sources [30]; similarly, Ahmad [26] illustrated that GHRM brings the human resources policies into force allowing the sustainable use of resources in every job/process of the business. With another perspective, Mandip [20] and Mishra et al. [21] defined GHRM as the implementations that support environmentalist activities and improve employee consciousness and commitments for environmental sustainability. Besides providing improved efficiency like reduced cost and employee commitment, and improved organizational outcomes, the green human resource management practices include the implementations that reduce the carbon footprint of the business. Then, Mishra et al. [21] defined green human resource management as an innovative process that includes human-related technological innovations and developments. GHRM involves human-related technology advancements and mainly includes initiatives like car-pooling, job-sharing, teleconferencing and virtual interviews, recycling, tele-commuting, online training and optimally utilizing the energy-efficient office spaces, etc.
\nAs a result, green human resource management can be defined as the triggering force of the human resource implementations that improves both economic and environmental sustainability of business resources by undertaking change and developing environmental conditions.
\nSince the objectives in GHRM implementations aim to make human resources conscious about environment, to reduce carbon footprint of companies, and to motivate employees to improve their environmental performance, the absence of the implementations of these objectives causes problems in some companies. In such businesses, it is impossible to create an environment-conscious culture and an understanding mindful of environment. With GHRM practices, a business intends to improve productivity, minimize the risks, and protect the interests of shareholders [8].
\nWehrmeyer [11] expressed the significance of human resources management in environmental management, significance of employee participation in environmental performance, the complex nature of environmental problems requiring specific analytical and communication skills, and the emergence of environmental management from the needs of cooperation and communication among the entire functions of the organizations. Wehrmeyer [11] described the most significant role of human resources in environmental management as supporting the environmental activities of the organization and classified inter-related human resources functions under two categories including environmental human resources management (EHRM) and environmental management activities [3]. These functions are authorized staff recruitment, staff management, and supporting organizational dynamics (Table 2).
\nGHRM functions | \nActivities | \n
---|---|
Recruitment of authorized personnel | \n\n
| \n
Personnel management | \n\n
| \n
Support of organizational dynamics | \n\n
| \n
Renwick et al. [23] described environmental management as a dimension of human resources management, approached it within the frame of the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity theory (AMO Theory), and grouped GHRM functions under development of green abilities, motivation of green employees, and providing green opportunities (Table 3). Razab et al. [27] revealed that environmental consciousness of the businesses was shaped around human resources activities involving entire employees and classified these functions under four headings as recruitment and selection, training and development, performance management system, and waging and rewarding. Mandip [20], Sheopuri and Sheopuri [25], and Mohd-Yusoff and Mohd-Yusoff [24] pointed out that environmental activities of HRM consist of major component of social responsibility of the businesses and assessed these activities within the framework of recruitment of environment-conscious employees under the functions of performance management system, training and development, employee participation, conflict and discipline, wage and reward system and appreciation. While Uddin and İslam [31] and Ahmad [26] classified GHRM functions under five categories as green recruitment, green performance management, green training and development, green waging, and green industrial relations, Deshwal [22] added personnel management, ability management, success, and career management to these functions, and thus classified them under eight groups. Arulrajah et al. [28] carried out a review study on the current green human resource practices and gathered these practices under several categories as green job analysis and design, green human resource planning, green recruitment, green selection, green induction, green performance assessment, green training and development, green rewarding system, green job safety, green discipline management, and green employee relations. Below, the GHRM functions were considered within the frame of Ability-Motivation-Opportunity theory (AMO Theory) of Renwick et al. [23] as developing green abilities, motivation of green employees, and providing green opportunities.
\nDeveloping green abilities | \nPractices | \n
---|---|
Green job design and analysis | \nIncorporating a number of environmental protection-related tasks, duties, and responsibilities in each job and putting into effect. Including environmental, social, personal, and technical requirements of the organizations in job descriptions and person (job) specifications as far as possible and put into effect. Using teamwork and making cross-functional teams as job design techniques to successfully manage the environmental issues of the company. Including environmental dimension as a duty in job description. Including green competencies as a special component in job specification. Designing and implementing new jobs and positions in order to focus exclusively on environmental management aspects of the organizations. | \n
Green human resources planning | \nEngaging in forecasting the number of employees and types of employees, needed to implement the corporate environmental management initiatives/programs/activities (e.g. ISO 14001, cleaner production, responsible care, etc.). Engaging in deciding strategies to meet the estimated demand for environmental works (e.g. appointing consultants/experts to perform energy or environmental audit etc.). | \n
Green recruitment | \nIndicating or making organizations’ environmental performance (past and current) transparent in the publication of recruitment announcements. Becoming a green employer or green employer of choice. Including environmental criteria in the recruitment announcements. Asking the employer’s concern about greening through recruitment efforts. Including the environmental policy and strategies of the organization in its recruitment policy. Expressing certain environmental values (e.g. be a part of the green team of ABC or we are socially and environmentally responsible) in the job advertisements of the company. Expressing the preference of the organization to recruit the candidates who have competency and willingness to participate in corporate environmental management initiatives in the recruitment announcement. | \n
Green selection | \nConsidering candidates’ environmental concern and interest as a selection criterion. Asking questions related to environmental issues in the recruitment interviews or in evaluating the candidates. Selecting the applicants who are sufficiently aware of greening for the job vacancies. Selecting the applicants who have been engaging in greening as consumers in their private life. | \n
Green induction | \nProviding general green induction. Providing job-specific green induction. Making the new employees familiar with greening efforts of the organization and encourage them to engage in green interpersonal citizenship behavior. Developing induction programs showing green citizenship behavior of current employees. | \n
Green training and development | \nProviding environmental training to the organizational members (employees and managers) to develop required skills and knowledge. Providing training to learn or adapt environmental-friendly best practices (e.g. reducing long-distance business travel and recycling). Providing training to create “environmental awareness” among the workforce. Providing environmental education to the workforce. Providing training to the staff to produce green analysis of work space. Applying of job rotation to train green managers of the future. Imparting right knowledge and skills about greening (to each employee through a training program exclusively designed for greening). Conducting training needs analyses to identify green training needs of employees. Analyzing and identifying environmental training needs of employees in order to make them more environmental concerned. Conducting a serious and systematic training program which is given to each employee for the purpose of giving the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes for good environmental management. Providing opportunities to everybody to get training on the aspect of environmental management. | \n
Developing green abilities | \nMotivating green employees | \nProviding green opportunities | \n
---|---|---|
Attracting/selecting
Training & development
| \nPerformance management
Pay and reward systems
| \nEmployee involvement
Supportive climate/culture
| \n
Development of green abilities attracts environment-conscious and qualified labor force, develops these employees with proper training programs, and places them in a position in which they are able to provide positive organizational outcomes and value-added to the business. At this point, the first step for environmental sustainability is the recruitment and selection of environment-conscious employees.
\nBusinesses should pay special attention to recruitment and selection of employees to work with and with whom they share their vision, mission, objectives, and values. Thus, the activities of the companies are important for the attraction and promotion of conscious employees who have comprehended the environmental objectives and targets of the business well. In this sense, businesses tend to the practices that include job analysis, job design, human resources planning, recruitment, and selection, and then target the training and development of employees.
\nThe objective of training is to let the employees to have certain knowledge, skill, and behaviors and to use all these knowledge in daily activities [1]. Businesses provide environmental knowledge and skills that are necessary for the employees through environmental training programs [6]. Training expresses the effort/efforts planned by the business to ease the learning process of the job-related skills. Such skills involve analytic information, and skills or behaviors for a successful business performance.
\nTraining activities are significant in that they are accepted as the indicator of environmental consciousness. Continuous and publicized trainings significantly influence the public image of the organizations in terms of environmental performance [15].
\nSuccess of environmental management systems primarily depends on the consciousness of employees about environmental protection and their comprehension of their role and responsibilities within this process [4]. Special training programs including environmental issues may provide several benefits in defining organizational responsibilities of employees, in creating a positive organizational image, and in providing active participation of employees in environmental management practices [15]. Besides, compliance with legal regulations and laws is also supplied through training practices. In a review study, Arulrajah et al. [28] specified GHRM practices and those that are related to developing green abilities are provided below (Table 3).
\nEmployee motivation through rewarding and performance management practices is among the primary functions of GHRM. A well-designed rewarding system is a significant tool to orient employees toward environment-conscious practices. Monetary rewards or publicity for every kind of activities improving environmental performance promotes employees to take environment-related responsibilities and to keep the best practices [1]. Conscious attitudes of executives on environmental issues will also have great impacts on management practices and especially on the behaviors of employees. Each and every implementation ranging from decision making to organizational targets, from employment policies to training and development policies, from business ethics to social responsibility, all are realized under the inspection of executives. The more the executives adopt environmental practices, the more the human resources get conscious about environment and actively engage in green movement along with organizational policies and stay motivated.
\nThe relationships between environmental consciousness and economic success of the business constitute the bases of environmental management system, and the attitudes of executives deeply influence these relations [32]. Executives have the authority to allocate funds to environmental management and thus they have significant influences on medium-level executive since they frequently meet with environmental problems each day and on the other staff with an influence on business activities and processes effecting environment. Support of executives may require the following factors [15]:
\nCommunication about knowledge, plan, and policies required for employees,
Promotion of cultural exchanges in activity and implementations,
Authorizing and rewarding employees for well behaviors and implementations,
Overview of environmental management processes.
Beside the support of executives in environmental issues, commitment also constitutes a significant component. Commitment comes to the forefront in environment-conscious attitudes not only of executives, but also of all employees.
\nRenwick et al. specified GHRM practices that motivate the employees as follows [33]:
\nMonetary-based: bonuses, cash, and premiums.
Non-monetary-based: sabbatical and leave gifts.
Recognition-based: awards, dinners, publicity, external roles, and daily praise.
Positive rewards in environmental management: feedback.
Personal rewards: Gain green citizenship, connecting suggestion scheme with rewards system, and connecting the participation in green initiatives with career gains.
Performance management practices imply all kind of goods, services, and ideas to achieve pre-specified task and objectives along with business targets. Objectives and such practices also constitute a significant component of employee motivation. The objective herein is to assess environmental performance standards of employees, their participation in environmental friendly business activities, new idea and projects and feedback which are provided for existing problems and to provide new objectives and methods if necessary. Green performance assessment includes the assessments of environmental accidents and performance of environmental responsibilities, environmental issues, and policies [11].
\nAdditionally, establishing environmental management information system (EMIS) and environmental audits, incorporating corporate environmental management objectives and targets with the performance evaluation system of the organization, installing corporate-wide environmental performance standards, integrating green criteria in appraisals or evaluating employee’s job performance according to green-related criteria, including a separate component for progress on greening in the performance feedback interview, providing regular feedback to the employees or teams to achieve environmental goals or improve their environmental performance, and introducing or formally evaluating all employees’ green job performance are included in environmental assessments for GHRM practices [28].
\nThe very basic condition for implementation of GHRM and environmental sustainability is adoption and internalization of environmental issues by the entire business. In this sense, it is quite significant to provide the participation and contribution of all employees, from the lowest to highest position, in to the environmental program. Identification of employee attitudes toward environmental issues and turning them into positive behaviors will ease environmental management. Getting the recommendations, expectations, complaints, and ideas of employees on environmental issues [23, 33], increasing their task and authorities, including environmental issues in their job contracts, identification of environmental programs and policies, and announcing them within the organization, creation of green teams will all motivate employees to actively participate in the environmental management. The practices that help to motivate green employees are summarized in Table 4.
\nAuthorization on employees basically means transfer of authority by the management instead of keeping it in its hand. In other words, authorization can be expressed as allowing employees to communicate about the business problems and assigning them responsibilities with opportunities related to the subject. In this way, employees will be empowered and allowed to participate in decision-making process and to generate ideas. There are several benefits of employee authorization in businesses [15]:
\nImprovements in employee health and safety and in environmental health practices,
Improvements in economy and organization image,
Improvements in knowledge of employees and managers, thus empowering employees.
Empowerment of employees first of all prevents them from being a source of pollution. In other words, in an organization that is able to dissipate environmental consciousness to the lowest level, empowered employees as the individuals who know their tasks well will better assess the environmental impacts of their tasks and take measures accordingly. Finally, number of knowledgeable employees who prevent pollution and provide solutions is increasing, thus environmental performance of businesses is improving [1]. Thus, qualified human resources have been created.
\nTeam work covers the implementations allowing performance and synergetic corporation of employees along with their abilities. Team work is related to multi-dimensional practices performed in collaboration with common objectives and targets. The teams that are composed of environment-conscious individuals (generally expressed as green teams) are the units created by different groups, individuals, or organizations gathered around various environmental issues and objectives [34]. These teams identify environmental problems, assess them from different perspectives, use a strong communication for the solution of problems, and get together to provide the best solution. Green teams provide several benefits to businesses [34, 35] as follows:
\nCreation of new ideas in businesses,
Improve and ease learning,
Define environmental problems better and faster,
Create optimum solutions for these problems.
Green teams inform employees about deeply identification, comprehension, and assessment of environmental issues in businesses and guide them in finding solutions for these problems in a collaboration and coordination.
\nConsidering the recent rapid changes and developments, businesses should be more active and innovative in this dynamic process. The pressure of competition and quality through globalization on the one hand and the changing conditions on the other hand force the businesses to change or renovate their business structure, processes, and implementations. Within this system, human resources constitute the primary source of business growth and development; therefore, human resource management becomes more significant. Human resources constitute the driving power for change and renovations in businesses, and they also play a distinctive role in economic, social, and environmental sustainability of the business.
\nGreen human resource management orients the environmental practices toward the protection of environment. Business mission and vision about environmental issues, management philosophy, harmonization of human resources policy and implementations, employee consciousness about the rules and implementation related to environmental protection, and informing and training of employees on these issues are all among the environmental practices of the businesses.
\nVarious sources and capabilities are not sufficient for companies to gain a competitive advantage. Competitive advantage mostly is gained through exclusive capabilities or resources of the business. Therefore, while traditional sources of competitive advantage like natural resources, technology, and scale-economy create a value for the business, source-based approach indicates that these factors could easily be imitated as compared to social structures like personnel system. Indeed, a well-developed human resource management system can be a significant source for competitive advantage. Source-based approach constitutes the theoretical basis for the potential role of human resources as a strategic value. Business tendencies toward the valuable and inimitable internal sources to gain a competitive advantage further increase the strategic significance of human resources [36].
\nBusiness consciousness on natural environment developed through the environmental disasters experienced throughout the world and pressures exerted on businesses about environmental consciousness have carried the environmentalist practices of businesses a step further. Green business practices pave the way for an atmosphere with a competitive advantage through economic and environmental sustainability [23]. As a result, business performance is improved, costs are reduced, employee commitment and other organizational outcomes are improved, and carbon footprint of the companies is reduced [23] with GHRM and green human resource practices thanks to increased employee awareness of sustainability. The practices like electronic filing, car-pooling, job-sharing, teleconferencing and virtual interviews, recycling [20] telecommunication technologies, online training, optimal utilization of energy-efficient office spaces, etc. are efficient in reducing the carbon footprint of the businesses. The productivity gained through GHRM practices reduces the operational costs and helps the businesses to be aware of their organizational and social responsibilities [22, 37]. GHRM strictly implements ISO14000 Standards, takes the environmental inspection into account, alters the organizational culture, and helps the employee and producers in creating a business image and a brand.
\nThe subject of human resource management includes several issues ranging from organizational design to recruitment activities, from rewarding systems, employee supports, and aid activities to improvement of employees and organization, from performance assessment to waging activities. In addition, green human resource management covers the human resource practices by taking environmental impacts into consideration in all business activities and complying with environmental mission and objectives of the business. Consciousness of employees, as the key stone of organizations, will determine the direction of the business.
\nImproved environmental performance of the executives to the lowest level workers in an integrative fashion, improved positive communication between the organization and the employees, reduced carbon footprint through monitoring and developing technological innovations and developments, efficient resource utilization, reduced costs, and improved efficiency and productivity can all be used as strategic tools within the scope of GHRM.
\nWhen the literature on GHRM was reviewed, it was observed that GHRM functions and practices were considered in various different fashions. The broadest GHRM literature classified GHRM practices under the categories such as green job analysis and design, green human resources planning, green recruitment, green selection, green induction, green performance assessment, green training and development, green rewarding system, green job safety, green discipline management, and green employee relations. The similarities and differences in these practices in different industrial fields and cultures can be elucidated in further studies.
\nExtremophile organisms capable of growing in extreme conditions draw considerable attention since they show that life is robust and adaptable and help us understand its limits. In addition, they show a high biotechnological potential [1, 2]. Most of the best-characterized extreme environments on Earth are geophysical constraints (temperature, pressure, ionic strength, radiation, etc.) in which opportunistic microorganisms have developed various adaptation strategies. Deep-sea environments, hot springs and geysers, extreme acid waters, hypersaline environments, deserts, and permafrost or ice are some or the most recurrent examples of extreme environments [3]. However, the atmosphere is rarely thought of as an extreme habitat. In the atmosphere, the dynamics of chemical and biological interactions are very complex, and the organisms that survive in this environment must tolerate high levels of UV radiation, desiccation (wind drying), temperature (extremely low and high temperatures), and atmospheric chemistry (humidity, oxygen radicals, etc.) [4]. These factors turn the atmosphere (especially its higher layers) into one of the most extreme environments described to date and the airborne microorganisms into extremophiles or, at least, multiresistant ones [5].
\nIt is known that airborne cells can maintain viability during their atmospheric residence and can exist in the air as spores or as vegetative cells thanks to diverse molecular mechanisms of resistance and adaptation [2, 6]. The big question is whether some of them can be metabolically active and divide. Bacterial residence times can be several days, which facilitate transport over long distances. This fact, together with the extreme conditions of the atmosphere, has led researchers to think for years that they do not remain active during their dispersion. However, recent studies strongly suggest that atmospheric microbes are metabolically active and were aerosolized organic matter and water in clouds would provide the right environment for metabolic activity to take place. Thus, the role played by microorganisms in the air would not only be passive but could also influence the chemistry of the atmosphere. In any case, only a certain fraction of bacteria in the atmosphere would be metabolically active [2, 7].
\nDespite recognizing its ecological importance, the diversity of airborne microorganisms remains largely unknown as well as the factors influencing diversity levels. Recent studies on airborne microbial biodiversity have reported a diverse assemblage of bacteria and fungi [4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12], including taxa also commonly found on leaf surfaces [13, 14] and in soil habitats [15]. The abundance and composition of airborne microbial communities are variable across time and space [11, 16, 17, 18, 19]. However, the atmospheric conditions responsible for driving the observed changes in microbial abundances have not been thoroughly established. One reason for these limitations in the knowledge of aerobiology is that until recently, microbiological methods based on culture have been the standard, and it is known that such methods capture only a small portion of the total microbial diversity [20]. In addition, because pure cultures of microorganisms contain a unique type of microbes, culture-based approaches miss the opportunity to study the interactions between different microbes and their environment.
\nAnother limitation for the study of aerial microbial ecology at higher altitudes or in open ocean areas is the difficulty of repeated and dedicated use of airborne platforms (i.e., aircraft or balloons) to sample the air. Most studies to date on the atmospheric microbiome are restricted to samples collected near the Earth’s surface (e.g., top of mountains or buildings). Aircraft, unmanned aerial systems (UASs), balloons or even rockets, and satellites could represent the future in aerobiology knowledge [5, 21, 22]. These platforms could open the door to conducting microbial studies in the stratosphere and troposphere at high altitudes and in open-air masses, where long-range atmospheric transport is more efficient, something that is still poorly characterized today. The main challenge in conducting these kinds of studies stems from the fact that microbial collection systems are not sufficiently developed. There is a need for improvement and implementation of suitable sampling systems for platforms capable of sampling large volumes of air for subsequent analyses using multiple techniques, as this would provide a wide range of applications in the atmospheric, environmental, and health sciences.
\nIn aerobiology, dust storms deserve special mention. Most of them originate in the world’s deserts and semideserts and play an integral role in the Earth system [23, 24]. They are the result of turbulent winds, including convective haboobs [25]. This dust reaches concentrations in excess of 6000 μg m−3 in severe events [26]. Dust and dust-associated bacteria, fungal spores, and pollen can be transported thousands of kilometers in the presence of dust [9].
\nIn this chapter, we approach the atmosphere as an extreme environment and make use of some advanced data from an example of an in situ study of the atmosphere: the analysis of bacterial diversity of the low troposphere of the Iberian Peninsula during an intrusion of Saharan dust using a C-212 aircraft adequately improved for aerobiological sampling.
\nIt is well known that there is a biota in the atmospheric air. The first study dates back to the nineteenth century, which speak about the presence and dispersion of microorganisms and spores in the atmosphere [27, 28]. Although the atmosphere represents a large part of the biosphere, the density of airborne microorganisms is very low. Estimates suggest that from the ground surface up to about 18 km above sea level (troposphere), there is less than a billionth of the number of cells found in the oceans, soils, and subsurface. Between approximately 18 and 50 km above sea level (stratosphere), temperature, oxygen, and humidity decrease and with them the number of cells. Above the ozone layer (between 18 and 35 km into stratosphere), ultraviolet (UV) and cosmic radiation become lethal factors. Once in the mesosphere (above 50 km), life is difficult to imagine; however microorganisms of terrestrial origin could arrive to the stratosphere from lower layers via different phenomena (human activity, thunderstorms, dust storms, or volcanic activity), and bacteria have been found isolated up to 41 km or in dust samples from the International Space Station (\nFigure 1\n) [6, 29]. Therefore, airborne microbes are always present in the atmosphere [11, 30, 31], and their permanence is dynamic, resulting in an environment with enormous variability. Estimates calculate that over 1021 cells are lifted into the atmosphere every year, leading to considerable transport and dispersal around the atmosphere, with a large portion of these cells returning to the surface due to different atmospheric events as part of a feedback cycle. Undoubtedly, airborne microbes play an important role in meteorological processes. They have been linked to the nucleation phenomena that lead to the formation of clouds, rain, and snow and to the alteration of precipitation events [32, 33, 34]. Their presence is essential to understand long-range dispersal of plant and potential pathogens [7, 35, 36] and maintain diversity in ground systems and could interfere with the productivity of natural ecosystems [17, 18]. On the other hand, airborne bacteria can have important effects on human health, being responsible for different phenomena such as seasonal allergies and respiratory diseases. Based on data from terrestrial environments, the global abundance of airborne bacteria has been estimated to range between 104 and 106 m−3 [37]. However, more recent studies incorporating direct counting by microscopy or quantitative PCR have provided more accurate estimates of the number of airborne microbes, which apparently point to a higher number of cells present in the atmosphere [38, 39, 40, 41].
\nDiagram displaying atmosphere layers, temperature and airborne emission sources. Yellow line marks atmospheric temperature. Bottom of the figures shows the common sources of aerosolized bacteria, with special attention to dust storms.
There is a great variety of airborne microorganism sampling systems, allowing us to select the most suitable one depending on our objectives [42]. On the other hand, no standardized protocols exist, which is a major pitfall when developing our objectives. This fact has led some authors to propose the creation of consortiums of interested parties for establishing standardized protocol reproducibility [20], as well as the need to establish global networks of aerobiological studies [11]. Two approaches are proposed: particles or cells can be collected passively or directly from the atmosphere. Passive media usually involves decanting [43] and collecting particles over snow [44] or through the collection of atmospheric water [45]. On the other hand, active methodologies entail three major approaches: filtration, impaction, and liquid impingement. All three approaches are very efficient when developing culture-dependent techniques. In contrast, culture-independent approaches produce some serious problems that make the work difficult: the high variability of the system and the low biomass mean that sampling campaigns are, in many cases, extremely inefficient [20]. Lastly, the use of airborne platforms is not very extended, but they represent a good opportunity to conduct a more direct study of the atmosphere [5, 19, 31].
\nFiltration is a simple and cheap method that is often efficient. It involves pumping air through a filter where the mineral and biological particles are trapped. Filters of different materials and porosity are available made of cellulose, nylon, polycarbonate or fiberglass, or quartz. Sizes used range from 0.2 to 8 μm, depending on the size of the particles to be captured and the capacity of the pump. In many cases, a PM10 filter can give better results when collecting smaller bacteria, as it allows greater airflow. Airflow filtration rates generally range between 300 and 1000 L/minute [4, 46]. Microorganisms trapped in the filter can be cultured, or the filters can be directly used for DNA extraction. In addition, filters are a very suitable support for microscopy, and countless holders for filters are available (an example is shown in \nFigure 2A\n).
\nThree different samplers of airborne microorganisms. (A) Filter holder and a filter (PALL Corporation). (B) Impinger sampling of bioaerosols (BioSampler, SKC, Inc.). (C) Six-stages Andersen Cascade Impactor (Thermo Fisher Scientific).
In impingement, particles are collected in a liquid matrix [20]. Normally a buffer is used such as phosphate buffer saline (PBS) that helps maintain the viability of the cells. One of the more widely used liquid impingers is BioSampler SKC (\nFigure 2B\n). In this case, the tangential movement of the particles inside the flow impinger retains the particles in the collecting liquid. The suspension obtained could be used for culturing or for molecular ecology assays [20]. One of the advantages of impingement collection is that it facilitates quantitative techniques such as flow cytometry or in situ hybridization [47].
\nIn this system, the particles generally impact into a petri dish with an enrichment medium. It is, possibly, the most efficient and most used method to conduct studies based on culture. Airflow impacting onto the plates is controlled by slots that allow the homogeneous distribution of the air. The system can be single stage or several stages in cascade, causing the particles to be distributed by size in the different petri dishes [20]. Some variants replace petri dishes with agarose filters or Vaseline strips, in order to carry out independent culture methodologies, but efficiency is very low. The original and more popular impactor is the Andersen cascade impactor (\nFigure 2C\n) [48].
\nSeveral studies explain and compare sampling methodologies in aerobiology, but most of them focus on the surface of the Earth (e.g., on top of mountains or buildings) or indoors [42, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54]. However, small studies have been conducted at higher altitudes or in open sea areas. The use of airborne platforms (balloons, aircraft, rockets, etc.) for aerobiology sampling would allow conducting a direct study of the microbial ecology of the atmosphere. Another advantage of airborne platforms is the possibility of studying the vertical distribution of airborne microbial communities. In addition, some aircraft allow us to develop studies in the upper troposphere or in the stratosphere. Unfortunately, atmospheric microbial collection instruments have not been developed enough for airborne platforms.
\nAmong the different airborne platforms, aircraft, due to their versatility and access, are particularly interesting. Some studies have been conducted, but not enough samples have been developed yet, and efficiency is still very low. As already mentioned, the efficiency of samplers in soil-level aerobiology faces a series of problems (low biomass, high variability of populations, lack of standardized protocols). In the case of airplanes, in addition to these intrinsic problems associated with atmospheric microbial ecology, other additional ones exist: (1) the high velocity of the aircraft in relation to the relative quiescent air mass. This makes it difficult to obtain an isokinetic sampler and, therefore, one that is sufficiently efficient that would allow us to obtain a correct quantification of the incoming air [55]; (2) the sampler must be in a location on the airplane that avoids chemical contamination from the operation of the device. Previous studies have used wing-mounted air samplers or the roof of the aircraft to reduce the possibility of in-flight contamination [21, 22, 56, 57, 58]. Similarly, it should allow the aseptic collection of samples, avoiding microbiological contamination during the process. This operation, which can be very simple in the laboratory or at ground level, becomes tremendously complicated on an airplane, since air intakes that are part of the fuselage of the aircraft are often difficult to sterilize. It is therefore necessary to develop robust sterilization protocols. The spectacular work of DeLeon-Rodríguez of 2013 has been criticized in this aspect [40, 59]; (3) sampling time. A possible solution to the low biomass of the atmosphere is to increase sampling time, but in the case of flights, we are limited to the flight autonomy of the aircraft. Although scarce, some studies from airplanes have been conducted. The first studies that were conducted in airplanes were carried out by impaction on a petri plate with enrichment means, which allowed isolating microorganisms from the upper troposphere and even from the stratosphere [21, 57, 60]. However, advances in molecular ecology have caused the most recent studies to favor filtration [40, 58].
\nThe European Facility for Airborne Research (EUFAR) program brings together infrastructure operators of both instrumented research aircraft and remote sensing instruments with the scientific user community. However, it lacked aircraft prepared for microbiological sampling. The National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA) belonging to the Spanish Ministry of Defence has two CASA C-212-200 aircraft that were suitably modified to be used as flying research platforms. Now, these two aircraft are a unique tool for the study of atmospheric microbial diversity and the different environments of the EUFAR program. Our research group has a CASA-212 aircraft with an air intake located on the roof of the aircraft. A metal tube fits the entrance and is fitted inside the aircraft to a filter holder, a flowmeter, and a pump (\nFigure 3\n). This simple system is easy to sterilize, and both the metal tube and the filter holder can be replaced in flight by other sterile ones if we want to take different samples. Using PM10 fiberglass filters, we can obtain isokinetic conditions and pass 1800 L of air per hour through the filter, as indicated by the flowmeter.
\nAirborne microorganisms sampler installed in INTA’s CASA C-212-200 aircraft.
In a series of recent experiments, we tried to install a multi-sampler system in our aircraft, where we had five systems in parallel and connected to the same intake of the plane: one filter holder, two impingement systems, and two impactors (\nFigure 4\n). The results clearly showed that in the case of our aircraft, filtration was more efficient (data not shown).
\nMulti-sampler system tested in INTA’s CASA C-212-200 aircraft. (A) Impinger sampler, design and manufacture own. (B) Impactor sampler (Impaktor FH6, Markus Klotz GmbH). (C) Coriolis μ (Bertin Technologies SAS) a impinger biological air sampler. (D) Filter holder (PALL Corporation). (E) Six-stages Andersen Cascade Impactor (Thermo Fisher Scientific).
Aerobiology studies have traditionally focused on the collection of bacterial cells and the analysis of samples by total counting and culture-based techniques. It is known that such methods capture only a small portion of the total microbial diversity [61]. The almost exclusive use, for years, of these methodologies is one of the reasons for these limitations in the knowledge of aerobiology. In addition, culture-dependent methods do not allow us to study the interactions between different species of microorganisms. Culture-independent methods have been used to assess microbial diversity, increasing the specificity of microbial identification and the sensitivity of environmental studies, especially in extreme environments. These methods have recently been applied to various areas of airborne microbiology [62, 63, 64, 65] revealing a greater diversity of airborne microorganisms when compared to culture-dependent methods. Some good studies approach the challenges and opportunities of using molecular methodologies to address airborne microbiology [20, 66]. Although molecular ecology methods allow the rapid characterization of the diversity of complex ecosystems, the isolation of the different components is essential for the study of their phenotypic properties in order to evaluate their role in the system and their biotechnological potential. A combination of culture-dependent and culture-independent methods is ideal to address the complete study of the system.
\nModern culture-independent approaches to community analysis, for example, metagenomics and individual cell genomics, have the potential to provide a much deeper understanding of the atmospheric microbiome. However, molecular ecology techniques face several particular challenges in the case of the atmospheric microbiome: (1) very low biomass [20]; (2) inefficient sampling methods [20]; (3) lack of standard protocols [9, 20]; (4) the composition of airborne microbes continuously changes due to meteorological, spatial, and temporal patterns [7, 62, 67, 68, 69, 70]; and (5) avoidance of the presence of foreign DNA in the system [59]. Because these issues are not yet resolved, most of the non-culturing approaches focus on microbial diversity, where they are highly efficient.
\nThe most recurrent techniques are those based on DNA extraction, gene amplification of 16S/18S rRNA, and next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies. Often, this approach is more efficient due to the greater efficiency and sensitivity of this process, as opposed to gene cloning and Sanger sequencing; thus some authors are inclined toward metagenomics instead of amplification. This provides more information and avoids an intermediate step, but bioinformatic processing is tedious and often only provides data in relation to diversity, making the annotation of the rest of the information very complicated [20]. These approaches can be complemented with quantitative methods such as qPCR, flow cytometry, or fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) [41, 47, 66, 71]. FISH is surely the best and most specific cell quantification methodology that exists. However, in the case of aerobiology, it cannot always be used. A minimum number of cells must exist so that we can observe and count them under a fluorescence microscope. Due to the variability of microbial populations in the air, this is not always achieved. In our research group, we have obtained very good results in this regard, optimizing cell concentration. \nFigure 5\n shows epifluorescence micrographs of bacteria from an air sample. On this occasion, sampling was performed using a biological air sampler (Coriolis μ, Bertin Technologies SAS), where biological particles are collected and concentrated in a liquid (PBS). Sampling was conducted for 2 hours at ground level, pumping a total of 36,000 L of air. After this time, the sample was paraformaldehyde fixed and filtered through a 0.2 μm pore size, hydrophilic polycarbonate membrane, 13 mm diameter (GTTP, Millipore). A half sample was hybridized with the universal Bacteria domain probe, EUB338I-III [72], following a conventional protocol [73]. The second half was hybridized with the probe NON338 [74] as negative control. In this case, an average of 140 cells per liter of air was counted. Occasionally, FISH also allows to observe bacteria attached to mineral particles (\nFigure 5C\n–\nD\n).
\nEpifluorescence micrographs of bacteria from an air sample. (A and C) DAPI-stained cells; (B and D) same fields a A, and C, respectively, showing cells hybridized with probes EUB338I-III (Cy3 labeled), specific for Bacteria domain. All micrographs correspond to the same hybridization process, performed with a sample obtained after 4 hours sampling at ground. C and D show microorganisms attaches to a mineral particles (arrow sign). Bars, 5 μm.
DNA gives us much information about the diversity of the system, but if we wish to obtain information about the metabolic activity that is taking place in the ecosystem, metabolomic and metatranscriptomic approaches are needed [50, 66]. In the case of the atmosphere, this is crucial, since we are not fully certain if the cells present are active. Some studies indicate that a part of the microorganisms in the atmosphere are developing an activity [6], but until we conduct RNA-based and metabolite-based studies, we will not have the certainty that this is the case. The big problem is that it is very difficult to carry out these studies using the current microbial capture systems.
\nScanning electron microscopy (SEM) also provides much information of the aerobiology [7]. Specifically, it allows the characterization of eukaryotic cells (e.g., diatoms) and, above all, pollens and fungal spores, from which we can obtain great information with good images alone. \nFigure 6A\n shows pine tree pollen observed via SEM in a sample obtained after a 30 minutes flight of the C-212 aircraft.
\nSEM images of different airborne samples. (A) Pinus pollen. Ground sample after 2 hours sampling. (B) Air sample collected from C-212-200 aircraft during a Saharan dust intrusion (February 24, 2017). Filter appear completely cover of mineral particles. (B and C) Biological particles sampled using C-212-200 aircraft. (E) Diatomea sampled by C-212-200 aircraft in a fligth along the northern coast of Spain (9 March 2017). (F) Cell attached to mineral particles and organic matter.
As mentioned above, factors, such as the shortage of nutrients and substrates, high UV radiation, drying, changes in temperature and pH, or the presence of reactive oxygen species, make the atmosphere an extreme environment. However, it is possible that the high variability of its conditions is the one characteristic that makes this environment more extreme [1, 20]. Among the cells present in the atmosphere, a considerable portion appears in the resistance forms capable of withstanding low-temperature and high-radiation conditions. This is what probably happens with fungi and gram-positive bacteria. Bacillus strains recurrently isolated from the atmosphere have characteristics and a capacity to sporulate very similar to strains isolated from the soil. Undoubtedly, another part of the cells will be in the form of latency and may even suffer modifications of the cell wall and slow down or stop their metabolic activity [75, 76]. These transformations can improve resistance to physical stresses, such as UV radiation [58]. On the other hand, some of the bacteria present in the atmosphere, such as Geodermatophilus, show pigmentation that undoubtedly protects it from excessive radiation. The microorganisms that are usually detected in the atmosphere originate mainly from the soil, which means they will share similar mechanisms of resistance. In some strains, metabolic adaptations have been observed to lack nutrients such as cytochrome bd biosynthesis to survive iron deprivation [77]. Deinococcus is also a recurrent genus in the atmosphere, which, like those in soil, has multiresistance mechanisms based on high DNA-repair efficiency. Bacteria that do not form spores and certain archaea, in contrast, often have genomes rich in G + C, which may increase tolerance to UV rays and overall survival [78].
\nAnother strategy of resistance could be cell clustering and adhesion to particles. Several studies have confirmed the loss of viability and shielding or the reflective properties of the mineral particles as an important role for the protection of UV radiation [19, 31]. In that sense, it is very possible that many cells have mechanisms that promote aggregation. In our samples, we often find the cells adhered to each other or to minerals, which undoubtedly makes them more resistant (\nFigure 6\n).
\nGlobal and regional models have been used to explain bioaerosol emission, transport, and atmospheric impact [17, 18, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84]. Even so, it is not an easy phenomenon to explain, since it depends on a large number of factors. On the one hand, there are numerous sources of tropospheric aerosols, which include sea salt, volcanic dust, cosmic dust, industrial pollutants, and desert and semidesert areas [6, 85]. We must also consider the factors that make the transfer of particles possible, for example, meteorological phenomena, solar radiation, temperature, tides, erosion, etc. [85]. On the other hand, anthropogenic activities can also affect dust emissions indirectly, by changing the climate and the hydrological cycle. In these aerosols, microorganisms will be included in a greater or lesser number. The degree of richness in cells of tropospheric aerosols will depend largely on the source of emission. Thus, the large wooded masses or fields of crops provide the atmosphere with a good number of microorganisms due to the effect of air or the aerosols produced by rain. Similarly, anthropogenic activity contributes large amounts of bacteria to the environment, treatment plants, and composting areas being sources of airborne microorganisms [85].
\nDesert dust storms play a major role in particle emissions and with them that of microorganisms. In this way, most of the material reaching the atmosphere from the surface comes from desert and semidesert areas, which is known as desert dust. The Sahara-Sahel desert, the Middle East, central and eastern Asia, and Australia are the major sources of desert dust, although all the arid zones of the world are emission sources [9, 86]. Dust storms are atmospheric events typically associated with dry lands due to the preponderance of dried and unconsolidated substrates with little vegetation cover. The strong and turbulent winds that blow on these surfaces raise fine-grained material, a large part of which consists of particles the size of silt (4–62.5 μm) and clay (<4 μm), reducing visibility to less than 1 km. The atmospheric concentrations of PM10 dust exceed 15,000 μg/m3 in severe events [87], although the concentrations naturally decrease with the distance from the areas of origin, extending hundreds of kilometers. The dust particles and cells associated with them are transported in this manner and will be deposited finally, by the effect of rain, snow, or other meteorological phenomena. Therefore, there is a continuous transfer of mineral and biological matter through the atmosphere that moves from the air to the terrestrial environment and changes its geographical area [7, 24].
\nThe Sahara-Sahel desert located in northwestern Africa is one of the major sources of windblown dust in the world [9]. This phenomenon has an impact on the Mediterranean coastline, but Saharan dust has been transported toward the north of Europe and has been found on numerous occasions in the Alps [88, 89] or blown toward the Atlantic and Caribbean [8, 90]. It has been estimated that 80–120 tons of dust are transported annually through the Mediterranean toward Europe [23, 91, 92]. In particular, dust transported by the winds can reach an elevation of up to 8 km in the atmosphere over the Mediterranean basin [93]. Because of its geographic position, the Iberian Peninsula is often affected by these dust events. Specifically, the Sahara-Bodele depression, located at the southern edge of the Sahara desert, has been described as the richest dust source reaching the Iberian Peninsula. Southern Spain is the main area affected, but dust can reach the Pyrenees and even France [43]. Different researchers have studied the mineralogical and chemical composition of Saharan dust, which has been observed to contain calcite, dolomite, quartz, different clay minerals, and feldspars as the main mineral components [94]. The intrusion of big amounts of these components is an important influence on nutrient dynamics and biogeochemical cycling in the atmosphere of the Iberian Peninsula.
\nDespite the large number of studies on dispersion, geochemistry, and mineralogy of African dust, few are focused on microbiology. All these studies conclude that there are microbes associated with dust because there are higher concentrations of aerosolized microorganisms during dust events [43, 90, 93, 94, 95, 96]. However, the magnitude of the concentrations and the specific microbes associated with dust events remain the subject of debate. On the other hand, the viability of these microorganisms is another big question. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) develops the Global Dust Program to investigate the viability of microorganisms transported in dust masses. USGS authors using DNA sequencing of the ribosomal gene were able to isolate and identify more than 200 viable bacteria and fungi in St. John’s samples in the USA [8, 36, 90]. Fungi and bacteria associated with atmospheric dust can be recovered and cultivated, but they must be gram-positive bacteria and many spore formers, which makes them resistant to the extreme conditions of the atmosphere.
\nTherefore, fungi and bacteria associated with dust may have been isolated from dust intrusions, but a percentage of the viable ones already remains an unanswered question. Another big question is the activity of these cells in the atmosphere. It is clear that they are resistant to extremophile conditions, but the question is whether they are developing their life cycle in this particular environment. This question could be answered by molecular ecology methodologies based on the isolation and sequencing of mRNA, but low atmospheric biomass and high variability are, once again, the great problem when developing this type of RNA-based methodologies. On the other hand, clinical records point to many of the viable microorganisms identified in the Saharan dust as the cause of respiratory diseases (asthma and lung infections or allergic reactions), cardiovascular diseases, and skin infections [7, 90, 97, 98]. It is known that other microbes associated with dust in the air are pathogenic to humans, including those that cause anthrax and tuberculosis, or to livestock (such as foot and mouth disease) or plants [7, 90, 97, 98]. Characterization, quantification, and feasibility studies are vital to address these problems.
\nIt is common to find fungal spores belonging to the genus Aspergillus, Nigrospora, Arthrinium, and Curvularia associated with Saharan dust. Bacterial taxa comprised a wide range of phyla, including Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes. Generators of genus spores such as Clostridium and Bacillus are very common, along with other gram-positive ones such as Geodermatophilus or Streptococcus. Also, Alphaproteobacteria, a very common bacterium class in soils (e.g., the family Sphingomonadaceae), are associated with dust [4, 9]. As regards Archaea, there are few studies of the atmosphere, in general, and of dust, in particular, that focus on this domain. Surely, reduced cases of pathogenic archaea have been studied to a lesser extent. Aeropyrum is the most detected genus of airborne archaea, but it is related to marine aerosols [11]. On the other hand, studies of pollen associated with dust are widespread. An interesting study investigated pollen transported from North Africa to Spain through Saharan dust and found that pollen from five non-native plant species was detected exclusively during dust events [99]. Lastly, viruses and virus-like particles have a great interest in the emission of dust. One study mentions virus-like particles associated with a transoceanic dust event. This report is based on epifluorescent microscopy of filters stained with a specific nucleic acid stain. An increase in the order of magnitude of virus-like particles was observed, from 104 to 2105 m−3 between the baseline condition and dust conditions in the Caribbean [41]. It is speculated that free airborne viruses show worse resistance to high ultraviolet radiation and dry air associated with long-distance transport in dust events resist worse than others [9].
\nFour aerobiology sampling flights took place during February and March 2017 using the CASA C-212-200 aircraft from INTA. The study focused on microbial diversity in the atmosphere of the Iberian Peninsula during and after a Saharan dust intrusion. Flights took place under four different conditions: (1) during a strong Sahara dust storm that reached the north of the Iberian Peninsula, from February 22 to 24, 2017 (February 23, 2017) (\nFigure 7\n); (2) following precipitation (February 28, 2017); (3) following a dry period (March 8, 2017); and (4) along the northern coast of Spain (March 9, 2017). In each flight, samples were collected at different altitudes, and air samples were obtained simultaneously at ground level. A total of 20 samples were collected and are being analyzed. Cell presence was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and bacterial diversity is being studied by DNA extraction, 16S rRNA gene amplification, and Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Results are being analyzed via bioinformatics and biostatistical software (MOTHUR, SPSS, STAMP, CANOCO, and PAST) which will allow us to compare the results between the different flows and scenarios.
\nSaharan dust intrusion. Dust pours off the northweat Afrincan coast and blankets the Iberian Peninsula, 23 February, 2016. NASA satelital imagen via MODIS.
Although this study is not yet finished, some data can be advanced in this chapter. \nFigure 6\n shows SEM microphotographs obtained from samples in different scenarios. In general, the samples obtained during the days of dust intrusion (flight of February 23) appear completely covered with mineral particles. In these cases, more biological cells were detected than in the rest of the days. In the particular case of samples from the marine coast flight, more diatoms were observed (\nFigure 6E\n).
\nThe analysis of diversity using the Shannon index showed that, in all cases, diversity was greater on days of Saharan dust intrusion, both in the samples taken from the ground and those taken at higher altitudes with the aircraft. This indicates that Saharan dust contributes microorganisms that are not present in the atmosphere on a daily basis. Diversity analysis showed phylum characteristics of soils, being Alpha- and Betaproteobacteria the most abundant classes. All of the analyses performed showed that bacterial diversity detected at ground level and in-flight samples during the dust intrusion event were similar among one another. The genus taxonomic levels of Sphingomonas, Geodermatophilus, Methylobacter, Rhizobiales, Bacillus, or Clostridium were present in every sample, but their sequences were more abundant in the case of ground samples and dust intrusion samples collected during the day flight. However, sequences of the genus Flavobacterium, Streptococcus, or Cupriavidus were most abundant in the case of samples collected during flight.
\nPreliminary conclusions show that bacterial diversity of airborne bacteria during days of dust intrusion is higher and similar to bacterial diversity commonly detected in soil samples. Further analyses are being conducted with these samples to obtain a complete description of the evolution of bacterial diversity during those days.
\nIntense UV radiation, low pressure, lack of water and nutrients, and freezing temperatures turn the atmosphere into an extreme environment, especially its upper layers. However, it is widely known that airborne bacteria, fungal spores, pollen, and other bioparticles exist. Numerous bacteria and fungi have been isolated and can survive even at stratospheric altitudes. Microbial survival in the atmosphere requires extremophilic characteristics, and therefore airborne microbiota is potentially useful for biotechnological applications. The role of airborne microbial communities is vital in the Earth, including interactions among the atmosphere, biosphere, climate, and public health. Airborne microorganisms are involved in meteorological processes and can serve as nuclei for cloud drops and ice crystals that precede precipitation, which influences the hydrological cycle and climate. Furthermore, their knowledge is essential in understanding the reproduction and propagation of organisms through various ecosystems. Furthermore, they can cause or improve human, animal, and plant diseases.
\nAirborne platforms that allow conducting a direct study of microorganisms in the atmosphere and molecular methodologies (e.g., “omics”) could represent a major opportunity for approaching this question. Nevertheless, some challenges must yet be solved, such as low biomass, efficiency of sampling methods, the absence of standard protocols, or the high variability of the atmospheric environment.
\nDeserts and arid lands are one of the most important sources of aerosol emissions. Clouds of dust generated by storms mobilize tons of mineral particles, and it is known that microorganisms remain attached to the particles being transported over long distances. The large number of mineral particles and microorganisms thus placed into the atmosphere has global implications for climate, biochemical cycling, and health. North African soils, primarily the Sahara Desert, are one of the major sources of airborne dust on Earth. Saharan dust is often transported to southern Europe and could even reach high altitudes over the Atlantic Ocean and the European continent. Again, airborne platforms could be a perfect opportunity for conducting a direct study of the microbiology of this kind of events.
\nThis work has been supported by grants from the Spanish government (
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