The Number and Species Diversity of Cultured Microfungi on the Barents Sea Coast

Abstract

The number and diversity of cultivated microscopic fungi isolated from seawater, littoral and supralittoral soil on the coast of the Barents Sea were studied. Communities of microfungi are mainly represented by facultative marine fungi of terrigenous origin. The isolates mainly belonged to anamorphic fungi of the department Ascomycota and are represented by the genera Penicillium, Aspergillus, Talaromyces, Trichoderma, Acremonium etc., characteristic of the cold northern seas. The frequently found species in the study area were Aspergillus brasiliensis, Penicillium hirsutum, P. glabrum, P. spinulosum, P.  janczewskii, Trichoderma koningii, T. viride, Talaromyces purpureogenus. The number of fungi in the supralittoral soil is two to three orders of magnitude higher than in the soils of the littoral zone and averaged from 4 to 13 thousand CFU/g. In sea water, the number of fungi was only a few units per ml. The maximum number of saccharolytic fungi was noted in the soils of the supralittoral zone. In the soils of the littoral and sea water, the number of hydrocarbon-oxidizing fungi varied from 52.5 to 143.3 CFU/g and from 0 to 4 CFU/ml, respectively. The number of saccharolytics varied from 0 to 113 CFU/g in the littoral soil and from 0 to 3 CFU/mL in sea water in all the studied areas, except for the most polluted ones, where it reached values of 200 CFU/g. An increase in the proportion of saccharolytic fungi in sea water and littoral may indicate anthropogenic pollution of the area, including hydrocarbons and other organic compounds. The urbanized areas of the Kola Bay with a high anthropogenic load were characterized by a richer species diversity and an increase in the proportion of pathogenic and opportunistic forms of microscopic fungi. A high level of hydrocarbon pollution negatively affected the number of saccharolytic fungi, while lower values of hydrocarbon content did not affect the number of saccharolytics. The number of fungi grown on Czapek’s mineral medium decreased as the amount of hydrocarbons both in sea water and in the littoral zone increased, which may indicate a high vulnerability of marine microfungi to pollution.