Open AccessIdentification of fungi from soil and sediment in Jefriz Cave; the first survey in a cave from Iran
Author(s) -
Azadeh Habibi,
Banafsheh Safaiefarahani
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of caves and karst studies/journal of cave and karst studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.262
H-Index - 40
eISSN - 2331-3714
pISSN - 1090-6924
DOI - 10.4311/2019mb0145
Subject(s) - cave , mycobiota , biology , ecology , botany
The aim of this study was to characterize the mycobiota in soil and sediment samples of Jefriz cave in Kerman, Iran. During 2018−2019, the culturable mycobiota from several sites within the Jefriz cave, resulted in 82 fungal isolates. Morphological characteristics of the isolates, as well as molecular sequence data, were used for species identifications. The fungi were identified as species of Fusarium, Fusicolla, Geomyces (Pseudogymnoascus), Humicola, Chalastospora, Penicillium, Aspergillus, Epiciccum, Podospora and Mucor. The most prevalent was Aspergillus spelunceus, followed by Geomyces pannorum and Humicola grisea. The majority of these species have been reported as cave residents in previous studies of cave environments. Our data showed that the fungal community composition varied between the samples from the entrance and less visited sites deeper in the cave. This study is the first cave mycological investigation in Iran, and one of the identified species is reported for the first time from a cave.