U of Washington David J. Smith stands at the summit of Mount Batchelor near the snow-encrusted building housing a ski lift on the ground level and an atmospheric observatory in the upper story, complete with atmospheric instruments on the roof.
A surprising number of microorganisms - 99 percent more kinds than had been reported in findings published just four months ago - are leaping the biggest gap on the planet. Hitching rides in the upper troposphere, they're making their way from Asia across the Pacific Ocean and landing in North America. For the first time researchers have been able to gather enough biomass in the form of DNA to apply molecular methods to samples from two large dust plumes originating in Asia in the spring of 2011. The scientists detected more than 2,100 unique species compared to only 18 found in the very same plumes using traditional methods of culturing, results they published in July. "The long-range transport and surprising level of species richness in the upper atmosphere overturns traditional paradigms in aerobiology,” says David J. Smith , who recently earned his doctorate at the University of Washington in biology and astrobiology. He's lead author of a paper in the current issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. "It's a small world.
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