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The fungal colonisation of rock-art caves: experimental evidence

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Abstract

The conservation of rock-art paintings in European caves is a matter of increasing interest. This derives from the bacterial colonisation of Altamira Cave, Spain and the recent fungal outbreak of Lascaux Cave, France—both included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Here, we show direct evidence of a fungal colonisation of rock tablets in a testing system exposed in Altamira Cave. After 2 months, the tablets, previously sterilised, were heavily colonised by fungi and bacteria. Most fungi isolated were labelled as entomopathogens, while the bacteria were those regularly identified in the cave. Rock colonisation was probably promoted by the dissolved organic carbon supplied with the dripping and condensation waters and favoured by the displacement of aerosols towards the interior of the cave, which contributed to the dissemination of microorganisms. The role of arthropods in the dispersal of spores may also help in understanding fungal colonisation. This study evidences the fragility of rock-art caves and demonstrates that microorganisms can easily colonise bare rocks and materials introduced into the cavity.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support through a contract with the Ministry of Culture, Spain, and projects CGL2006-07424/BOS, CGL2006-11561/BTE and CGL2004-05969/BTE. This is a TCP CSD2007-00058 paper. Dr. Marcos González is thanked for the identification of the Stenophylax species.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiologia, CSIC, Seville, Spain

    Valme Jurado, Leonila Laiz & Cesareo Saiz-Jimenez

  2. Departamento de Geologia, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid, Spain

    Soledad Cuezva & Sergio Sanchez-Moral

  3. Laboratorio de Petrologia Aplicada, Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain

    Angel Fernandez-Cortes & Juan Carlos Cañaveras

Authors
  1. Valme Jurado
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  2. Angel Fernandez-Cortes
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  3. Soledad Cuezva
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  4. Leonila Laiz
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  5. Juan Carlos Cañaveras
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  6. Sergio Sanchez-Moral
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  7. Cesareo Saiz-Jimenez
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Correspondence to Cesareo Saiz-Jimenez.

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Jurado, V., Fernandez-Cortes, A., Cuezva, S. et al. The fungal colonisation of rock-art caves: experimental evidence. Naturwissenschaften 96, 1027–1034 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0561-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0561-6

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