A Culture-Based Study of Micromycetes Isolated from the Urban Nests of Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) in SW Poland

Abstract

There are many positive relationships between micromycetes and birds: They can spread fungal spores, and fungi facilitate cavity woodpecker excavation by preparing and modifying excavation sites. In turn, bird nests are mainly a source of potentially zoopathogenic fungi. The Wrocław city centre hosts the biggest grey heron breeding colony in Poland with at least 240 breeding birds pairs. To assess the possible public health risks associated with bird nests, the goal of the present study was to identify cultivable fungi present in the nests of grey herons (Ardea cinerea) in Wrocław. Additionally, attempts were made to determine whether the obtained species of fungi may pose a potential threat to animal health. Fungi were cultured at 23 and 37 ± 0.5 °C, and identified based on phenotypic and genotypic traits. Moreover, during routine inspection, visible fungal growth in some of the nests was found. Overall, 10 different fungal species were obtained in the study (Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus fumigatus, Botryotrichum piluliferum, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Epicoccum layuense, Mucor circinelloides, M.hiemalis, Penicillium atramentosum, P.coprophilum, and P.griseofulvum). They are both cosmopolitan species and a source of potential threat to humans, homoiothermous animals and plants. The greatest number of fungal species was obtained from the nest fragments with visible fungal growth incubated at 23 °C, and the least from western conifer seed bugs (Leptoglossus occidentalis) inhabiting the nests. The species such as A. fumigatus, P. coprophilum, and P.griseofulvum can be directly related to the occurrence of visible fungal growth on plant fragments of grey heron’s nests.

The First Comprehensive Biodiversity Study of Culturable Fungal Communities Inhabiting Cryoconite Holes in the Werenskiold Glacier on Spitsbergen (Svalbard Archipelago, Arctic)

“…P. album and P. hyalophaea were the most frequently isolated species overall; however, when taking into account only fungi isolated at 24 °C, P. cumulodentata and P. sumatraense were the most abundant on PDA and YPG media, respectively. It can be concluded that the effectiveness of a successful, culture-based mycological analysis depends, among other things, on combining diverse conditions, such as different temperatures and types of media [ 66 ]. Nevertheless, only a few reports regard P. cumulodentata , including its original description in 1976 [ 67 ].…”

Destruction of Mycotoxins in Poultry Waste under Anaerobic Conditions within Methanogenesis Catalyzed by Artificial Microbial Consortia

“…It was found that most of the mycotoxins present in the feed are excreted with droppings in birds [ 33 , 34 , 35 ]. Recently, there have been significantly fewer cases of consumption of large amounts of mycotoxins by birds than 10–20 years ago, since strict quality control of feed is organized in developed countries.…”

Fungal signatures of oral disease reflect environmental degradation in a facultative avian scavenger

“…Some of these opportunistic filamentous fungi present in the oral cavity of nestling black kites have been found in nests of birds (including raptors), such as Fusarium sp., Penicillium sp., Alternaria sp., M. hiemalis, and M. circinelloides (Kornillowicz-Kowalska et al, 2011;Kornillowicz-Kowalska and Kitowski, 2018;Ogórek et al, 2022). In addition to growing on and colonizing plant fragments of the bird nests (Ogórek et al, 2022), some of the potentially phytopathogenic and zoopathogenic fungi identified in nestling black kites have also been detected in bird droppings, such as Pennicilium sp., Mucor sp. and Rhizopus sp.…”