Abstract

Fungal spore concentrations vary during day and night. Dry spore types are released during the day, whereas wet spores that have more humidity ratio are released into the air at night. Studies on airborne fungi in Turkey are very rare, and they are daily and weekly monitored only in some cities. The aim of our study was to determine the daily fungal concentrations in Edirne, Turkey. All samples were taken from a level of 11 m. above ground. The sampling time was carried out bihourly in the day, from 8 am to 20 pm, once a week from October 11 to November 15, 2002. Two sampling methods were used for the isolation of fungi: A gravitational and a volumetric method. Statistical analysis was performed in order to determine the relationship between some environmental factors and airborne counts and some correlation were found between the fungal numbers, relative humidity, sampling hours and temperature. A total of 800 fungal colonies in 42 petri dishes were isolated, quantified to determine the frequency of occurrence and then identified as genus level. 9337 cfu/m3 microfungi were determined by volumetric sampling. Seven fungal genera could be determined, among them Cladosporium and Alternaria were found as the most predominant fungi, followed by Penicillium and Trichoderma.