Microclimate Effects on Number and Distribution of Fungi in the Włodarz Underground Complex in the Owl Mountains (Góry Sowie), Poland

In July 2013 we studied the occurrence of fungi in an underground complex named Wlodarz, located inside the massif of Wlodarz, within the Owl Mountains, Lower Silesia, Poland. The study is the first mycological evaluation of the rocks in the Wlodarz underground complex and the air inside and outside of it. To examine the air, the Air Ideal 3P sampler and PDA medium were used. Microbiological evaluation of the rocks inside the adit was performed using two methods, swab sampling and rinse sampling. The results were analyzed by ANOVA, and means were compared using Fisher’s least significant difference (LSD) test at a # 0.05. Eleven taxa of filamentous fungi were isolated from the air sampled outside the Wlodarz adit, and fifteen from the air inside. Between 65.5 and 1003 colony-forming units of fungi per m of air were isolated from the air sampled in the adit and about 1115 CFU from the air sampled outside of it; the differences are statistically significant. The majority of the airborne fungi were isolated from outside the adit and from the ventilation shaft containing a waterfall, probably due to air movement. From the rock walls of the shafts seven taxa of fungi were isolated, whereas from the rock debris on the adit’s floor, only six taxa. The densities of fungi obtained from the research locations are statistically significant, and the most dense fungus isolated from the air outside and inside the adit was Cladosporium cladosporioides, followed by C. herbarum at one locations in the adit. Taxa of the Aspergillus niger group were most common on the rock debris and wall rocks except for one location where Penicillium chrysogenum was most common on the rock debris and one location where Cladosporium cladosporioides was most common from the rocks walls.