Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Phototrophic Colonization in Dolomitic Limestone: Comparison between Single vs Artificial Multispecies

2023; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 40; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01490451.2023.2192211

1521-0529

Fabiana Soares, João Trovão, Igor Tiago, Susana M. Cardoso, Francisco Gil, Lídia Catarino, António Portugal,

Conservation Techniques and Studies

AbstractAbstractPhototrophic organisms, such as microalgae and cyanobacteria, are known to be major contributors to stone decay. The purpose of this study was to assess the dolomitic limestone colonization by phototrophic organisms, using single vs artificial multispecies, under laboratory conditions. To achieve this aim, dolomitic limestone blocks were inoculated with single phototrophic species previously collected from the Old Cathedral of Coimbra, for a period of three months. In parallel, limestone blocks were also inoculated with a mixture of the same isolated single species, in order to compare the colonization capacities of both conditions. Results were evaluated based on visual inspection, surface covered area, colorimetric and SEM analyses. Results showed that the phototrophic organisms were able to colonize the dolomitic limestone blocks in both conditions (single vs artificial multispecies), but biofilm development was more enhanced when single species, rather than multispecies, were used. The obtained results also allowed to observe the capacity for endolithic colonization and the formation of small cavities by some species.Keywords: Colonizationlimestonephotoautotrophic organismssingle vs multispecies AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. Leonel Pereira for kindly providing the room for the cultivation of the photoautotrophic strains and the conduction of the experiments.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis research was financed by FEDER- Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020—Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI) and by Portuguese funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia in the framework of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDERPTDC/EPH-PAT/3345/2014. This work was conducted at the R&D Unit Center for Functional Ecology—Science for People & the Planet (CFE) with reference UIDB/04004/2020, financed by FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC). Fabiana Soares was supported by POCH—Programa Operacional Capital Humano (co-funding by the European Social Fund and national funding by MCTES), through a 'FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia' PhD research grant (SFRH/BD/139720/2018). João Trovão was supported by POCH—Programa Operacional Capital Humano (co-funding by the European Social Fund and national funding by MCTES), through a 'FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia' PhD research grant (SFRH/BD/132523/2017). We gratefully acknowledge TAIL-UC, funded under QREN-Mais Centro Project ICT-2009-02-012-1980. The financial support of FCT through national funds and the research projects UIDB/00073/2020 of the Geosciences Center and the UID/Multi/00070/2013 are also acknowledged. Thanks to the Univ Aveiro and FCT/MEC for funding the associated laboratory LAQV-REQUIMTE (project reference UIDB/50006/2020), through national funds and co-financed by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER), within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement.