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PM2.5 pollution in urban Harbin across seasons: Biological and chemical characteristics, correlation, and source
Yingfan Xu1, Guangzhi Wang2, Dongdong Wang3
1School of Civil Engineering, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150080, China; School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
Abstract:
This study investigated the spatiotemporal variation patterns and synergistic interactions between chemical and biological components of PM2.5 in urban Harbin from October 2023 to September 2024. The annual average PM2.5 concentration ranged from 0.014 to 0.122 mg/m3. Mean concentrations of key constituents were as follows: heavy metals (1193.28 ng/m3), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (11.69 ng/m3), culturable bacteria (98.16 CFU/m3), and culturable fungi at (59.50 CFU/m3). The trends of PM2.5 constituents paralleled the total mass concentration, demonstrating marked seasonality. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and principal component analysis and multiple linear regression (PCA-MLR) revealed that the studied urban area experiences persistent fugitive dust pollution throughout the year, with a notable increase in contributions from industrial emissions and motor vehicle exhaust during winter. Microbial concentrations consistently remained below established safety thresholds. Microbial activity exhibited a distinct seasonal peak in spring and was significantly elevated during polluted episodes compared to clean-air conditions. High-throughput sequencing reveals that the combined relative abundance of Pseudomonadota, Bacillota, Actinomycetota, and Cyanobacteriota exceeds 90%. The dominant fungal phyla are Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Functional profiling indicated that bacterial metabolic activities predominate in PM2.5, and fungal community are primarily composed of saprotrophic taxa. Species richness (Chao1 and ACE indices) and diversity (Shannon and Simpson indices) indices exhibited marked seasonal variation. Spearman correlation analysis identified temperature, atmospheric pressure, and PM2.5 concentration as the primary environmental drivers shaping microbial community composition. Furthermore, specific heavy metals as well as PAHs exhibited genus-specific inhibitory or promotional effects.
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