Environment-driven control of fungi in subterranean ecosystems: the case of La Garma Cave (northern Spain)

Abstract

Airborne microorganisms can cause important conservation problems in caves with Paleolithic art and therefore the knowledge of cave aerodynamic is essential. La Garma Cave (Cantabria, Spain), an exceptional archaeological site with several levels of galleries interconnected and two entrances, presents a complex atmospheric dynamics. An approach including aerobiological sampling together with microclimate monitoring was applied to assess the factors controlling the origin of airborne fungi. Here we show that winter ventilation is critical for the increasing of Basidiomycota spores in the cave air and the highest concentrations were found in the most ventilated areas. On the contrary, Ascomycota spores prevailed in absence of ventilation. Besides, most Ascomycota were linked to insects and bats that visit or inhabit the cave. The combination of aerobiological and microclimate data constitutes a good approach to evaluate the influence of external climatic conditions and design the most suitable strategies for the conservation of cultural heritage in the cave environment.

Diversity of Microfungi in a High Radon Cave Ecosystem

“…Diaporthe spp. have been isolated from the air in caves from China ( Zhang et al, 2017 ), Brazil ( Cunha et al, 2020 ), Spain ( Sanchez-Moral et al, 2021 ), and from bats in Malaysian caves ( Wasti et al, 2020 ). Trichophyton ajelloi (= Arthroderma uncinatum ) is a geophilic dermatophyte that can cause infections in humans, with a preference for keratin-rich substrates ( Zheng et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Other Trichophyton spp. have been isolated from cave air ( Nováková, 2009 ; Martin-Sanchez et al, 2014 ; Sanchez-Moral et al, 2021 ).…”

“…This is a soil borne fungus occurring worldwide and in caves. The fungus is common in European and North American caves and is adapted to grow between 4 and 15°C ( Out et al, 2016 ; Vanderwolf et al, 2019 ; Sanchez-Moral et al, 2021 ).…”

“…The direct control that environmental conditions exert on the distribution of fungi in subterranean ecosystems has recently been demonstrated ( Jurado et al, 2021 ; Sanchez-Moral et al, 2021 ). The objective of this study is to know the distribution of the different fungal taxa throughout Castañar Cave, as well as the prevalence and spatio-temporal evolution of the fungi caused by the vomit over the years under conditions of high isolation of the cave atmosphere from the outside and an outstanding radon activity.…”

Aspergillus diversity from the Gcwihaba Cave in Botswana and description of one new species

“…The Gcwihaba Cave was found to be species-rich with most species isolated in low numbers, except for A. sydowii (43 strains) and A. subalbidus (13 strains) that dominated communities. Fungal surveys from caves often find Aspergillus and Penicillium to be very common ( Johnson et al 2013 , Man et al 2015 ,, Zhang et al 2017 , Zhang et al 2020 , Jurado et al 2021 , Sanchez-Moral et al 2021 ). Unfortunately, most of these surveys identified strains based on the ITS barcode which is not reliable on a species level in both of these genera ( Houbraken et al 2020 ).…”