Drought Increases Microbe-Laden Dust Landing In Sierras!

Dust from around the world is arriving in the Sierra Nevada mountains conveying microbes that are harmful to both plants and people.

A study from UC Riverside shows that higher concentrations of these microbes are now landing at lower elevations! This is where people usually hike!

“Pathogenic residue is turning out to be more dangerous as the Earth is getting drier and drier. It just so happens, you can’t go hike a mountain to move away from everything,” said UCR microbial environmentalist Mia Maltz, who led the review.

The specialists detailed the kinds of parasites and microorganisms arriving from low to high rises in the mountains in another Frontiers in Microbiology paper. “A portion of these organisms can cause failures and human respiratory disease!” Said Maltz.

Let’s hope that we can stop global warming and climate change to make our beloved earth a better place to live!

Author: Sri Nihal Tammana

Source: University of California – Riverside