Abstract:
Airborne molds are ubiquitous bioaerosols that are associated with poor air quality and
respiratory health. Mold spores are rampant both indoors and outdoors, and while indoor
airborne mold surveillance studies have previously been conducted, mold diversity and
identity across floor levels in high-rise condominiums have not been done before.
Therefore, this study aims to identify airborne molds in a high-rise condominium,
determine mold diversity, and establish the relationship between mold diversity and
abundance to floor level. Settle plate passive air sampling was utilized to isolate 299
mold colonies which were identified to belong to 10 distinct genera. Common indoor
molds such as Aspergillus sp., Hormodendrum sp., Penicillium sp., Chrysonilia sp., and
Chrysosporium sp. were detected across floor levels– which are known airborne
contaminants with pervasive spores that had been extensively documented from indoor
isolates. Diversity measured using Shannon-Wiener Index (H’) and Simpson’s Index (SI)
revealed that the 16th floor had the highest mold diversity (H’ = 1.60, SI = 0.75) in both
indices- with the 30th floor also having an SI of 0.75, while 34th floor had the lowest
diversity values (H’ = 1.07 and SI = 0.56). No significant differences in diversity across
floor levels signify that the samples are not considered diverse. The correlation of mold
species diversity to floor level yielded no statistical significance (p>0.05), directly
suggesting that mold diversity does not correlate with an increase in vertical
stratification. Active air sampling and gene sequencing are recommended to improve the
specificity of the study for future reference.
