Occurrence, Diversity and Anti-Fungal Resistance of Fungi in Sand of an Urban Beach in Slovenia-Environmental Monitoring with Possible Health Risk Implications.

Beach safety regulation is based on faecal indicators in water, leaving out sand and fungi, whose presence in both matrices has often been reported. To study the abundance, diversity and possible fluctuations of mycobiota, fungi from sand and seawater were isolated from the Portorož beach (Slovenia) during a 1-year period. Sand analyses yielded 64 species of 43 genera, whereas seawater samples yielded 29 species of 18 genera. Environmental and taxonomical data of fungal communities were analysed using machine learning approaches. Changes in the air and water temperature, sunshine hours, humidity and precipitation, air pressure and wind speed appeared to affect mycobiota. The core genera , , , , , , and were found to compose a stable community within sand, although their presence and abundance fluctuated along with weather changes. spp. were the most abundant and thus tested against nine antimycotics using Sensititre Yeast One kit. and isolates were found to be resistant to amphotericin B. Additionally, four possible human pollution indicators were isolated during the bathing season, including , which can be used in beach microbial regulation. Our findings provide the foundations for additional research on sand and seawater mycobiota and show the potential effect of global warming and extreme weather events on fungi in sand and sea.