Chemical and biological components of atmospheric particulate matter and their impacts on human health and crops: a review

This article provides a brief review of morphological features (MFs), chemical and biological aspects of particulate matters (PMs) and their effects on humans and crops. Based on previous studies, it has been found that particles such as carbonaceous, metal-rich, crust-element, fly-ash and biological particles usually exhibit multifarious morphology, due to diverse sources. Thirty-seven elements have been identified; some of them, viz. arsenic, chromium, cadmium, lead, nickel, vanadium and titanium, are extremely hazardous for humans and plants compared to other elements. These toxic elements (TEs)/toxic metals (TMs) can pose several potential diseases such as respiratory, asthma, cardiovascular, neurological and reproductive diseases on humans and also damage the food security by the causing of direct/indirect injuries, such as chlorosis/necrosis, damages cell/tissue/stomata and stunting on crops. Airborne microbes (AMs), especially fungi, are vital components of atmospheric PMs; diverse species of aeromycoflora belonging to the genus Cladosporium, Conidia, Penicillium, Alternaria, Fusarium, Aspergillus and Puccinia have been found associated with atmospheric PMs in which mostly act as pathogens and can give rise to numerous categories of diseases in humans such as skin allergy, pulmonary, respiratory, aspergillosis, pneumonia and asthma as well as on crops (wheat, rice and maize) like rust, blast and spot. This valuable information about morphological, chemical and biological (fungi) features of atmospheric PMs, their sources and deleterious consequences on humans and crops will also be cooperative for future research to assess the toxic impacts of PMs on both humans as well as crops.

Graphical abstract