Role of Exposure on the Microbial Consortiums on Historical Rural Granite Buildings

Local granite has been used throughout history in Galicia (NW Spain), forming the basis of much of the region’s architecture. Like any other rock, granite provides an ecological niche for a multitude of organisms that form biofilms that can affect the physical integrity of the stone. In this study,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inApplied sciences Vol. 11; no. 9; p. 3786
Main Authors Fuentes, Elsa, Carballeira, Rafael, Prieto, Beatriz
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.05.2021
Subjects
Abundance
Algae
Aquatic plants
bacteria
biofilm
Biofilms
Chlorophyta
Consortia
Cultural heritage
Cyanobacteria
Ecological niches
Environmental factors
Exposure
Fungi
Granite
Historic buildings & sites
Historical buildings
Identification
microbial community
Microorganisms
Morphology
Next-generation sequencing
Orientation
Religious organizations
Ribosomal DNA
Rural areas
Stone
Taxonomy
Iberian Peninsula
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Summary:Local granite has been used throughout history in Galicia (NW Spain), forming the basis of much of the region’s architecture. Like any other rock, granite provides an ecological niche for a multitude of organisms that form biofilms that can affect the physical integrity of the stone. In this study, for the first time, characterization of the microbial consortium forming biofilms that developed on historical rural granite buildings is carried out using a combination of culture-dependent and next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques. Results pointed to differences in biofilm composition on the studied rural granite buildings and that of previously analyzed urban granite buildings, especially in terms of abundance of cyanobacteria and lichenized fungi. Exposure was corroborated as an important factor, controlling both the diversity and abundance of microorganisms on walls, with environmental factors associated with a northern orientation favoring a higher diversity of fungi and green algae, and environmental factors associated with the west orientation determining the abundance of lichenized fungi. The orientation also affected the distribution of green algae, with one of the two most abundant species, Trentepohlia cf. umbrina, colonizing north-facing walls, while the other, Desmococcus olivaceus, predominated on west-facing walls.
ISSN:2076-3417
2076-3417
DOI:10.3390/app11093786