Abstract
Fungi are among the most efficient groups of microorganisms causing biodeterioration of organic and inorganic materials. They are remarkably versatile in surviving in unsuitable environmental conditions. Climatic factors on rock and stone monuments in dry subtropical areas may be too extreme to support growth of lichens; nevertheless they allow the colonisation by some groups of well-adapted extremophilic fungi. Over the last years isolation techniques have been improved and have revealed the ubiquitous presence of a diversity of slow growing fungi. A particular role is assumed for dematiaceous meristematic fungi. These fungi have been located especially on rock and stone monuments in the Mediterranean Basin, but it seems that their presence is widespread over different climatic conditions. Studies applied to microbial ecology aiming to establish the involvement of fungi in the decay of stone monuments are usually carried out. Isolation of strains and determination of their phenotypic and genotypic characteristics (morphology, development, metabolism, physiology and phylogeny) allow to distinguish the species from superficially unrelated organisms and to define the ecological role of individual species. In addition, the definition of range of growth and the responses to abiotic factors provide auto-ecological information on their habitats. Genotypic characterization gives a better definition of the studied taxa.
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Urzì, C., De Leo, F., De Hoog, S., Sterflinger, K. (2000). Recent Advances in the Molecular Biology and Ecophysiology of Meristematic Stone-Inhabiting Fungi. In: Ciferri, O., Tiano, P., Mastromei, G. (eds) Of Microbes and Art. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4239-1_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4239-1_1
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