PProGRess, Department of Geology, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S8, 9000 Ghent, Belgium; Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology (CMET), Department of Biotechnology, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
PProGRess, Department of Geology, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S8, 9000 Ghent, Belgium; Antwerp Cultural Heritage Sciences (ARCHES), University of Antwerp, Mutsaardstraat 31, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium.
Sci Total Environ. 2020 Sep 1;733:139339. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139339. Epub 2020 May 12.
Air pollution is one of the main actors of stone deterioration. It influences not only the material itself but also prokaryotes colonizing rocks. Prokaryotes can affect rock substrates and biological colonization will most likely become relatively more important during the course of the 21st century. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the effects of air pollution on biological colonization and on the impact of this colonization on rock weathering. For this reason, we studied the prokaryotic community of Lede stone from two deteriorated monuments in Belgium: one in the urban and one in the rural environment. This research conducts 16S rRNA gene Next Generation Sequencing combined with an isolation campaign. It revealed diverse and complex prokaryotic communities with more specialized bacteria present in the urban environment, while archaea were barely detected. Some genera could cause biodeterioration but the isolates did not produce a significant amount of acid. Soluble salts analysis revealed an important effect of salts on the prokaryotic community. Colour measurements at least indicate that a main effect of prokaryotes might be on the aesthetics: In the countryside prokaryotic communities seemed to discolour Lede stone, while pollution most likely blackened building stones in the urban environment.
空气污染是石材劣化的主要因素之一。它不仅影响材料本身，还影响着在岩石上定居的原核生物。原核生物可以影响岩石基质，在 21 世纪的进程中，生物定殖很可能变得相对更为重要。因此，有必要了解空气污染对生物定殖的影响，以及这种定殖对岩石风化的影响。出于这个原因，我们研究了比利时两个被污染的纪念碑上 Lede 石的原核生物群落：一个位于城市，一个位于农村环境。这项研究结合了 16S rRNA 基因的下一代测序和分离实验。结果揭示了多样且复杂的原核生物群落，城市环境中存在更多专业化的细菌，而古菌几乎未被检测到。一些属可能会导致生物侵蚀，但分离出的细菌并未产生大量酸。可溶性盐分析表明，盐对原核生物群落有重要影响。颜色测量至少表明，原核生物的主要影响可能在于美学：在农村，原核生物群落似乎使 Lede 石变色，而在城市环境中，污染很可能使建筑石材变黑。
