Airborne fungal spores of subalpine zone of the Karkonosze and Izerskie Mountains (Poland)

The incidence of the airborne fungal spores was determined in the air of subalpine zone of the Karkonosze Mountains and of the Izerskie Mountains in the borderland between Poland and the Czech Republic. The experiment was conducted in 2011 and 2012 at three to four week intervals from May to October. Air samples were taken from three locations in the Karkonosze Mts. and one from the Izerskie Mts. To examine the air, the Air Ideal 3P sampler and acidified PDA medium were used. The results show that Cladosporium cladosporioides was the most abundant spore type in all the sampling locations (up to 30%), followed by Alternaria alternata (16%-20%), Fusarium (up to 10%) and Sclerotinia sclerotiorium (up to 6%). The lower spore counts were recorded in May samples, compared to the other months. In this case the snow cover, that was still present in the area at the beginning of May, may be the reason for the lower, compared to June, July and August samplings, CFU (Colony Forming Unit) counts in that month. The influx of air masses from SE, S and SW sectors in the area under study may affect dissemination of the plant-pathogenic fungi from the Czech Republic and from the South of Europe in general.