Bento Jaqueline T, Moreira Guilherme, Pinto Eugénia, Gomes da Silva Priscilla, Rebelo Hugo, Mourão Joana, Sousa Sofia I V, Mesquita João R
School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS), University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
Laboratory of Microbiology, Biological Sciences Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto (FFUP), 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
J Fungi (Basel). 2025 May 6;11(5):360. doi: 10.3390/jof11050360.
Cave environments represent extreme and underexplored ecosystems wherein fungi play a crucial role in nutrient cycling and ecological dynamics. This study provides the first comprehensive assessment of fungal diversity in air samples from caves across Portugal, with six samples from five locations being assessed through culture-dependent and metabarcoding approaches. From the five bat roosts studied, eleven morphologically distinct fungal colonies were isolated, with genera such as , , and identified. Concurrently, Oxford Nanopore sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of fungal rDNA revealed 286 genera, with , , and dominating across the sites. Diversity indices and community composition analyses, including Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) and hierarchical clustering, highlighted distinct fungal profiles influenced by site-specific environmental factors and human activity. The data underscores the dual role of fungi in bat roosts as essential decomposers, emphasizing their adaptability to oligotrophic conditions. These findings advance our understanding of subterranean fungal ecology and emphasize the need for targeted conservation efforts to protect cave ecosystems from anthropogenic impacts.
洞穴环境代表着极端且未被充分探索的生态系统，其中真菌在养分循环和生态动态中起着关键作用。本研究首次全面评估了葡萄牙各地洞穴空气样本中的真菌多样性，通过依赖培养和元条形码方法对来自五个地点的六个样本进行了评估。在所研究的五个蝙蝠栖息地中，分离出了11个形态上不同的真菌菌落，并鉴定出了诸如 、 和 等属。同时，对真菌核糖体DNA的内部转录间隔区（ITS）进行牛津纳米孔测序，揭示了286个属，其中 、 和 在各地点占主导地位。多样性指数和群落组成分析，包括主坐标分析（PCoA）和层次聚类，突出了受特定地点环境因素和人类活动影响的不同真菌特征。数据强调了真菌在蝙蝠栖息地作为重要分解者的双重作用，强调了它们对贫营养条件的适应性。这些发现推进了我们对地下真菌生态学的理解，并强调了有针对性的保护努力的必要性，以保护洞穴生态系统免受人为影响。
