Abstract
Previous studies on fungal community in the Nerja Cave (Malaga, Andalusia) were focused only on a capture of fungal spores from cave atmosphere and outdoor air by the Hirst-type volumetric pollen traps, it means without cultivation methods. Results of these studies showed the presence of different spore types belong to Oomycota, Myxomycota, but mainly to Ascomycota and Basidiomycota including their anamorph states, where spores of Penicillium/Aspergillus were dominated.
Our study was targeted cultivable microscopic fungi. Several sites inside the cave, mainly in the Touristic Gallery (2011 and 2012) but also in the Upper Gallery (2012) were chosen and several soil samples above the cave were collected, the isolation from outside air was also used to compare with cave environment.
Two isolation methods were used for this study - the gravity settling technique for the isolation of air-borne microfungi inside and outside the cave and the dilution plate method for the isolation of microfungi from cave sediment and soil above the cave. The CFU counts of air-borne cultivable microfungi were found much lower in comparison with previous published data from volumetric traps.
Nevertheless a rich microfungal spectrum was isolated from cave air as well as from cave sediments. Up to now, 16 and 6 species of the genus Aspergillus was identified from cave sediments and cave air, respectively, including one novel species.