Fungi research in sands of a river beach: implications for human health

• Autor(a) principal: Siyu Huang
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10348/11277
• topic: Freshwater beach; fungus in sand

Most mycological studies on beaches focus on seawater beaches, but the fungal communities in freshwater beaches are rarely studied. In order to determine whether there are differences in the abundance and diversity of fungal species among seasons and environments (water and sand), and the impact of fungi on freshwater beaches on humans, we collected samples from a beach located in the Azibo reservoir, in northern Portugal, from January to November 2020 (January, July, August, September and November), in sand and water (a total of 6 to 8 samples were collected each sampling period). Also, environmental parameters such as water and air temperatures (mean, maximum) and UV index, pH, total-Nitrogen, nitrate, nitrite, Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and total-Phosphorus were collected or measured. In general and for most of the physicochemical parameters, lower values were obtained in water than in sand, except for NH4+, with higher values in water. Over the months of sampling, some parameters were stable (pH, nitrite), while others varied greatly (N-total, TOC, nitrate). The average fungal colony forming units (CFU) were 632.54 per gram of sand, and 11.41 CFU per milliliter of water. During the bathing season (between July and September), there were 72.39 CFU/g of sand and 1.15 CFU/mL. Negative correlation were found between pH, air temperature on the day of sampling, water temperature, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, average temperature, UV index and fungal CFU, and positive correlations were found between average humidity, average precipitation and fungal CFU. Penicillium dominates all the moulds found, and Penicillium and Trichophyton sp. were found in sand samples in all months. All the moulds found in this area may cause 15 kinds of opportunistic diseases and allergies. The present data indicate that a variety of parameters affect the abundance and diversity of beach fungi. In the Azibo area studied, fungal community seems to respond to environmental changes, and that beach sand is a reservoir of fungi, some of which can affect human health.