The Influence of Space on Microbial Diversity

By: Ashley Garcia

Figure 1. Phylogenetic diversity in air samples of three different environmental settings of a health care facility: indoor room with mechanical ventilation, indoor room with natural window ventilation, and an outdoor setting. 

When an individual walks into a building, whether it be an office or one’s home, we often fail to recognize the microbial environment that is undoubtedly thriving before us (Kembel et al., 2012).  These microorganisms often influence the health of the built environment including its occupants. A study carried out by Kembel et al., analyzed the differences in microbial diversity based on distinct attributes of air ventilation in a health care facility.  The researchers sampled air from three environments of the health care facility: the outdoors, a room with a ventilation system, and a room with natural ventilation (window). Samples were then quantified and sequenced to reveal taxonomic diversity and abundance of microorganisms between the three. Pathogens were found to be greater in indoor rooms with limited airflow suggesting the need for adequate ventilation systems. In terms of taxonomic diversity and abundance: the most diverse were the outdoor samples, the lowest was the indoor “mechanical” (ventilated) space, and the room with natural ventilation fell somewhere in the middle (Figure 1). This data demonstrates the importance of understanding our built environment on microbial diversity and how other factors lend to this such as temperature and relative humidity.

Original Article:
Kembel SW, Jones E, Kline J, Northcutt D, Stenson J, Womack AM, Bohannan BJM, Brown GZ, and Green JL (2012). Architectural design influences the diversity and structure of the built environment microbiome. ISME Journal 6:1469-1479.