Aeolian (airborne or aerosol) prokaryotic community (APC) over the Red Sea (Global Dust Belt)

Aeolian prokaryotic communities are a vital elements of bioaerosols that get transported across different ecosystems by attaching to dust particles. Terrestrial and marine ecosystems are known to release and receive loads of prokaryotes into and from the surrounding atmospheric air. However, compared to terrestrial systems, there is a lack of microbial characterization of the atmospheric dust over marine ecosystems such as the Red Sea which receives significant terrestrial dust loads and is centrally located within the Global Dust Belt. In order to investigate the diversity and richness of the aeolian prokaryotic community (APC) over the Red Sea ecosystem, aeolian dust samples were collected at ~7.5-m high above the sea level at coastal and offshore sampling sites over a two-year period.