involvement in changing the climate. However, the effects of climate change on microbial communities (i.e., diversity, dynamics, or distribution) are rarely addressed. In the case of fungal aerobiota, its composition is likely influenced by dispersal ability, rather than season or climate. Indeed, the origin of air masses from marine, terrestrial, or anthropogenic-impacted environments, mainly shapes the atmospheric air microbiome. However, recent studies have shown that meteorological factors and seasonality influence the composition of airborne bacterial communities. This evidence suggests that climatic conditions may act as an environmental filter for the aeroplankton, selecting a subset of species from the regional pool, and raises the question of the relative importance of the different factors affecting both bacterial and eukaryal aeroplankton. In 2020, Archer et al. reported evidence for a dynamic microbial presence at the ocean–atmosphere interface at the Great Barrier Reef, and identified air mass trajectories over oceanic and continental surfaces associated with observed shifts in airborne bacterial and fungal diversity. Relative abundance of shared taxa between air and coral microbiomes varied between 2.2 and 8.8% and included those identified as part of the core coral microbiome. Above marine systems, the abundance of microorganisms decreases exponentially with distance from land, but relatively little is known about potential patterns in biodiversity for airborne microorganisms above the oceans. Here we test the hypothesis that persistent microbial inputs to the ocean–atmosphere interface of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem vary according to surface cover (i.e. land vs. ocean) during transit of the air-mass. Gallery See also Aeolian processes Aerobiology Airborne transmission Biological dispersal Dispersal vector Seed dispersal Organisms at high altitude Palynology References General reference External links Living on the air Ecology terminology Planktology