Fig. 1. Cell and CFU concentrations in the sampled smoke–air mixtures.

Total DNA-containing cells (a) and cell concentration per mass of PM₁₀ (b) are shown for samples collected prior to ignition (i.e., ambient) and during the prescribed burns (n = 8). The bottom panels contain the concentrations of cells (c) and CFUs (d) per mass of PM₁₀ in smoke from the laboratory burns of litter and duff (Grass/Soil O horizon), runner oak, or saw palmetto. Boxes represent the interquartile range, the middle horizontal line is the median, and the whiskers represent minimum and maximum values. Outliers are 1.5 interquartile ranges below the first quartile and above the third quartile. Asterisks indicate level of significance as follows: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ****p < 0.0001; not significant (ns) p > 0.05.