Geomycology: fungi in mineral substrata

By Euan P. Burford, M. Kierans, Geoffrey M. Gadd. Mycologist, 2003

192 citations recorded by the source corpus.

‘Geomycology’ can be defined as the impact of fungi on geological processes, including the alteration and weathering of rocks and minerals, the accumulation of metals and their role in nutrient cycling and influence on proliferation of microbial communities in mineral substrates. Although many studies on microbial interactions with minerals have been published in recent years, the main focus of geomicrobiology has been on prokaryotes. Recently, it has become apparent that epi- and endolithic fungi comprise a significant component of the microflo-ra in a wide range of rocks including siliceous types (silica, silicates and aluminosilicates), sandstone, granite, limestone, marble and gypsum. However, to date little is known about their in situ growth patterns or biogeochemical roles in such an environment. The aim of this article is to highlight our recent work on the biogeochemical roles of fungi inhabiting limestone (CaCO 3 ) and dolomite (CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 ) rocks and to emphasise the importance of fungi as agents of geological change.

Subfields: Earth-Surface Processes, Ecology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4f8ba6137f06d186c8c54b44ab8ea0a509184f00

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In Earth-Surface Processes

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Citations in the corpus

Efficacy of Biofertilizers: Challenges to Improve Crop Production (2016, background): “For example, fertile soil may contain a fungal network up to 10,000 km/m 2 (Burford et al. 2003 ).”
Geomycology: biogeochemical transformations of rocks, minerals, metals and radionuclides by fungi, bioweathering and bioremediation. (2007, unknown): “Since that time fungi have been ubiquitous components of the microbial communities of any terrestrial environment (Hawksworth 2001), including such hostile habitats as the arctic and Antarctic, hot deserts, and metal-rich and hypersaline soils (Burford et al. 2003a).”
Bacteria in Weathered Basaltic Glass, Iceland (2009, background): “This process is analogous to the invasion of rocks by fungal hyphae (Burford et al. 2003).”
Oxalate production by fungi: significance in geomycology, biodeterioration and bioremediation (2014, background): “Mycogenic oxalates are one important example of fungal biomineral formation (see Burford et al., 2003a,b; Gadd, 2007, 2010; Gadd and Fomina, 2011; Gadd et al., 2012 for other mycominerals).”
Metals, minerals and microbes: geomicrobiology and bioremediation. (2010, unknown): “Microbe–clay mineral interactions are therefore important in soil evolution, as well as aggregation and stabilization (Burford et al., 2003a; Tazaki, 2006; Theng & Yuan, 2008).”
Mycotransformation of organic and inorganic substrates (2004, unknown): “…also major biodeterioration agents of stone, wood, plaster, cement and other building materials, and it is now realised that they are important components of rock-inhabiting microbial communities with significant roles in mineral dissolution and secondary mineral formation (Burford et al., 2003).”
Experimental calcium-oxalate crystal production and dissolution by selected wood-rot fungi (2011, background): “In soil oxalate is a molecule that can connect the metabolism and activity of different types of macro and microorganisms, and thus the capability of fungi to produce CaOx suggests that theymay play an important role in soil ecology (Verrecchia et al., 1990; Morris and Allen, 1994; Dutton and Evans,”