Cave Microbial Survey is an experimental program carried out to promote an information network about microbial activity and distribution in natural and artificial caves. This project might be a solid link between researchers and non -specialists and aims at supporting scientific efforts gained in this field to date. The main scheme is based on a digital form to be filled out online, after the observation of microbial colonies detected in every type of cave. It deals with a crowdsourcing research that involves the collaboration of both speleologists and scientists. This micro-database collects data about: 1) cave and collaborators general information; 2) parietal biofilms that can be observed with the naked eye and colonize the bedrock (walls, ceilings, speleothems); 3) peculiar aspects of these colonies (colour, size, adhesion to the surface); 4) evidence of microbial activity (deposition and corrosion processes, structural changing of the colonizes surface; 5) the coexistence of different types of biofilms on the same area; 6) the localization of colonies in distinct sections of the cave (entrance, twilight and dark zone). The form is easy to fill: pictures of different biofilms are on modules that help to recognize the observed items. The idea is to help non specialists approach to this field and thus, contribute to enhance the current knowledge on cave microflora. Data will enrich an innovative and open access data-base. Aim of this study is to gather such background information to explain the importance of cave microbiota for the monitoring and the preservation of subterranean environment. A further goal of this project is to open new areas of researchthrough a multidisciplinary approach. Data collect will be also useful to identify caves of major interest and plane targeted samplings. Several caves of different type have been selected from this database and PCR-DGGE analyses of the microbial communities are undergoing.
Cave Microbial survey: a digital support to observe, describe and collect data on subterranean microflora
Paola Cacchio;Federica Matteucci;Maddalena Del Gallo
2018-01-01
Abstract
Cave Microbial Survey is an experimental program carried out to promote an information network about microbial activity and distribution in natural and artificial caves. This project might be a solid link between researchers and non -specialists and aims at supporting scientific efforts gained in this field to date. The main scheme is based on a digital form to be filled out online, after the observation of microbial colonies detected in every type of cave. It deals with a crowdsourcing research that involves the collaboration of both speleologists and scientists. This micro-database collects data about: 1) cave and collaborators general information; 2) parietal biofilms that can be observed with the naked eye and colonize the bedrock (walls, ceilings, speleothems); 3) peculiar aspects of these colonies (colour, size, adhesion to the surface); 4) evidence of microbial activity (deposition and corrosion processes, structural changing of the colonizes surface; 5) the coexistence of different types of biofilms on the same area; 6) the localization of colonies in distinct sections of the cave (entrance, twilight and dark zone). The form is easy to fill: pictures of different biofilms are on modules that help to recognize the observed items. The idea is to help non specialists approach to this field and thus, contribute to enhance the current knowledge on cave microflora. Data will enrich an innovative and open access data-base. Aim of this study is to gather such background information to explain the importance of cave microbiota for the monitoring and the preservation of subterranean environment. A further goal of this project is to open new areas of researchthrough a multidisciplinary approach. Data collect will be also useful to identify caves of major interest and plane targeted samplings. Several caves of different type have been selected from this database and PCR-DGGE analyses of the microbial communities are undergoing.Pubblicazioni consigliate
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
