VIEW ARTICLE

Air-Spora Above a Kansas Wheat Field. M. G. Eversmeyer, Research Plant Pathologist, ARS, USDA, Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, Manhattan 66506; C. L. Kramer, Professor, Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan 66506. Phytopathology 65:490-492. Accepted for publication 3 December 1974. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-65-490.

Kramer-Collins volumetric spore samplers were operated in the wheat canopy and on towers 1, 3, 6, and/or 14 m above ground level to measure concentrations of Puccinia graminis, P. recondita, Erysiphe graminis, Cladosporium, and Alternaria spores, and hyphal fragments above a wheat field in 1967-1971. Comparison of hourly meteorological factors and hourly spore concentrations showed that within a 24-hour period concentrations of airborne spores fluctuate as influenced by wind velocity, turbulence, dew, rain, and storm fronts as well as by periodicity in spore production. Location of spore samplers in relation to spore sources and wind direction was shown to be extremely important in determination and analysis of spore concentrations. We were unable to determine any statistical relationships which could be used to predict hourly spore concentrations using only meteorological variables such as wind velocity, turbulence, rain, dew, or temperature.