By observing the monsoon rain clouds as they form over tropical Asian and West coastal Indian forests, the Pseudomonas bacteria coming off plants of those areas appear to be able to produce cloud that travel for thousands of miles. It is my speculation that most rain clouds whose nuclei are Pseudomonas-based, within the northern hemisphere, mostly originated from tropical forests in Asia, Africa and the Amazon. Anyone tracing these rain-cloud producing bacteria to their host plants and countries of origin?
Dear Prof.Craig Dremann ..
Greetings. Its a interesting question regard Pseudomonas in clouds. In this I would like to extend my research finding that I have isolated a group of bacterial species from hail stone in Bangalore, India. Most of the bacterial species are gram negative rod (May be Pseudomonas) , micorcoccus roseus.
still now am trying to trace out the pathway of microbes , where its aerosolized and transported , and role microbes in hail stone formation and rain formation.
we are extending our research activities to study the source of cloud microbes. In india the Pseudomonas recvered from the leaf surface of the plant in western ghats of India.
Regards
sivasakthivel
Thank you very much for your reply.
From the image I have posted with my question, is where I am suspecting that these Pseudomonas are originating, from some species of tropical trees growing in fairly intact natural forests, but these host trees are now somewhat rare in India and have been extinct through human activities like cutting firewood for brick-making for maybe four thousand years in other places like Pakistan.
Once the host tree species are found, then the original ranges of these tree species should be determined. And thank you for the "Professor"--I have no degrees, just am old-school naturalist.
I got a clue about the Pseudomonas in the India-Pakistan area and the monsoon from Alexander Frater when he chased the India monsoon in his book “Chasing the Monsoon” in 1987 and wrote a diary of that year.
On June 2 he attended a meeting of Mrs. Das’ anti-deforestration committee, where he writes: …”India was once a sylvan country. When Alexander the Great invaded in 327 BC he encountered dense, close-canopied almost impenetrable forests. But peasants were already pursuing a slash-and-burn policy…Trees play a crucial role in the monsoon cycle. By SEEDING clouds they encourage the rain to fall; by trapping it they help recharge the aquifers and hold groundwater in store for the common good.”
I highlighted the word seeding, because the Pseudomonas living on the trees creating the monsoon rainfall was unknown by science in the 1980s, but the local people knew something like cloud seeding was going on, from their observations.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Geoscience
- Atmospheric Sciences
- Atmosphere