Development of Rock-Inhabiting Microfungi on Artificial (Synthetic) Marble Sculptures in the Summer Garden (St. Petersburg)

During the reconstruction of the Summer Garden from 2009 to 2011, all marble statues were moved to the exhibition halls of a Russian museum. Replicas of monuments from artificial marble were installed in the Summer Garden. Artificial marble consists of marble chips and polyester resin. It is known that microorganisms can degrade natural marble, but the influence of microfungi on artificial marble has been less studied. This chapter examines the dynamics of microfungi on different stone materials (granite, artificial marble and natural marble) in local ecosystems of the Summer Garden. We found that the artificial marble was covered by microfungi despite the presence of toxic resins in its composition. During the three time periods (spring–summer–autumn) in the study, 45 microfungi species from 21 genera and 3 subdivisions were identified. Of these, 16 typical rock-inhabiting species were observed on the surface of the statues and pedestals. More than 50 % of the species have dark pigmented mycelium or spores. Microfungi species composition varied at all rocky substrates. The greatest similarity was observed between the artificial and natural marble, and the smallest similarity was found between the artificial marble and granite. Mycobiota had a lower species diversity, whereas natural marble had the highest species diversity. The dynamics of microfungi on artificial marble surfaces were studied, and increases of species diversity were noted during the spring–summer season. There were no changes in the dominant species.