Cryptogam covers on sepulchral monuments and re-colonization of a marble surface after cleaning

Re-colonization of freshly cleaned surfaces by aeroterrestrial microbial communities is up to now poorly understood. Here, we present a comparative study addressing the composition of algal and fungal communities on a marble sculpture, based upon the analysis of 18S rRNA gene clone libraries from environmental samples. The samples were taken from a blackish and greenish biofilm cover before surface cleaning and 1 year after cleaning treatment, when traces of re-colonization became visible to the naked eye. The composition of the fungal community indicated clear differences between the old grown biofilm and the treated surface. While the former was dominated by the ascomycetes Rhinocladiella, Glyphium and Capnodiales, the black yeast Sarcinomyces was clearly dominant 1 year after cleaning, but could not be retrieved from the old grown black biofilm. The green algal community was dominated by different phylotypes of the lichen algae Trebouxia, as well as the cosmopolitan green algae Apatococcus and Stichococcus. No essential differences in the green algal community before and after cleaning could be observed.