A preliminary study of microfungal diversity in soils contaminated by military activities in Central Slovakia

Abstract We compared the impact of contamination by military activities (over 50 years) on the diversity of filamentous fungi at the Zemianske Kostoľany site (soil samples 1–6) and the Trenčín site (soil samples 7–13) in central Slovakia. In several samples, limit values for As, non-polar hydrocarbons, the sum of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and Zn were found to be exceeded. In all samples, a total of 21 genera and 58 species of filamentous fungi were identified. The most abundant species include Cunninghamella elegans , Mortierella alpina and Mucor hiemalis (phylum Mucoromycota). The phylum Ascomycota was dominated by species of the genera Fusarium , Penicillium and especially Trichoderma with many species in all soil samples. The species Cephalotrichum microsporum , Cephalotrichum gorgonifer , Fusarium armeniacum , Marquandomyces marquandii , Penicillium paraherquei , Purpureocillium lavendulum , Sporomia subticinensis , Talaromyces calidicanius , Trichoderma gamsii , Trichoderma paraviridescens , Trichoderma sulphureum (phylum Ascomycota) and the species Earliella scabrosa (phylum Basidiomacota) were recorded for the first time in Slovakia. The number of genera and species of filamentous fungi in samples at the Zemianske Kostoľany site was comparable with only minimal differences, which also characterizes their low diversity with the highest Sørensen’s similarity index value of 57.1% between samples 4 and 6. In soil samples at the Trenčín site, there was a slightly higher number of genera and species of filamentous fungi. This also implies a higher diversity with a maximum similarity of 62.8% between samples 12 and 13. Among the analysed contaminants, the contents of As and non-polar hydrocarbons had the most significant impact on the Sørensen’s similarity index.