Biodiversity on Stone Artifacts

Diversity of Biodeteriorative Bacterial and Fungal Consortia in Winter and Summer on Historical Sandstone of the Northern Pergola, Museum of King John III’s Palace at Wilanow, Poland

“…Thus, mosses and lichens may be an important factor of sandstone bioweathering processes. Most of the data concerning the presence of mosses and lichens describe the biocenoses occurring on sandstone surfaces in tropical zones and in Great Britain [8,9,22,38,44,45]. Therefore, the results of microbial diversity obtained for the Pergola surfaces were compared with results obtained for microbiota inhabiting sandstones in other climatic zones or other types of stones.…”

“…In the case of Pergola, the stone surface is eutrophicated and other microorganisms, such as microfungi, heterotrophic bacteria, and nitrophilous lichens (e.g., some species of Caloplaca or Candelariella) can develop. Therefore, in this situation, the chemical composition of the stone may become less important [8].…”

“…Microbial colonization of cultural heritage objects determines deterioration processes, which are also enhanced by a wide range of abiotic (physical and chemical) factors, such as humidity, insolation, temperature, exposure condition, and chemical composition of the air [6,7]. Microorganisms commonly found in the environment can result in damage to various materials including sandstone [8,9]. These undesirable degradative processes are called biodeterioration [10] and may affect valuable objects of cultural heritage [11].…”