Elsevier

Journal of Cultural Heritage

Volume 17, January–February 2016, Pages 123-130
Journal of Cultural Heritage

Original article
An aeromycological study of various wooden cultural heritages in Korea

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2015.05.001Get rights and content

Abstract

Korea has many wooden cultural heritages (WCHs), which should be preserved, along with various other cultural properties. WCHs, however, have undergone biodeterioration because of various fungal attacks in the past centuries; this type of biodeterioration is one of the significant problems faced during preservation of WCHs. To prevent this damage, it is important to investigate the fungal diversity of the WCHs. This aim of this study was to analyze the diversity of airborne fungi at 3 WCHs in Korea: Yeonghwadang (YHD; open building) and Juhamnu (JHN; closed building) in Changdeokgung Palace Complex located in Seoul and Unbong hyanggyo (UH; closed building) in Namwon. The airborne fungi were isolated twice in spring (March) and summer (August) using the gravity settling culture plate method and were identified using morphological and molecular techniques. There were differences in fungal diversity depending on the geographical location, climatic conditions, and the open or closed status of a building. During spring, in the open and closed buildings, a total of 671 fungal isolates (20 genera and 25 species) were collected in YHD and 125 isolates (19 genera and 25 species) were isolated in JHN. In summer, 175 isolates (11 genera and 12 species) and 66 isolates (12 genera and 13 species) were collected from YHD and JHN, respectively. The number of fungal isolates was greater in the open building than in the closed WCHs, but these buildings had similar fungal diversity. In UH, 180 isolates (13 genera and 15 species) were recovered in spring season and 58 isolates (14 genera and 17 species) in summer. There was no significant difference in the number of fungal isolates, but the fungal diversity was different depending on the environmental factors. Finally, fungal diversity was richer in spring than in summer because dusty and windy weather in spring was conducive to the release and transmission of fungal spores. In summer, there were a substantial number of basidiomycetes probably because their spores germinate better at higher temperatures and humidity.

Section snippets

Research aims

The present study was focused on preservation of wooden cultural heritages (WCHs) in Korea against fungal biodeterioration. The first aim was to analyze the diversity of airborne fungi at 3 WCHs in Korea, Juhamnu (JHN; closed building) and Yeonghwadang (YHD; open building) in Changdeokgung Palace Complex in Seoul and Unbong hyanggyo (UH; closed building) in Namwon. These buildings are under different environmental conditions and are managed in different ways such as open to the public or

Sampling sites

JHN and YHD in Changdeokgung Palace Complex, which is located in Seoul (37°58′N, 126°99′E) were selected to compare the diversity of indoor airborne fungi between buildings with closed and open doors. All doors of YHD are always open, and those of JHN are closed all year around (Fig. 1). JHN is about 30 m away from YHD, so airborne spore levels of the outdoor environment of these 2 buildings are not different.

Fig. 2 shows UH which is located in Namwon (35°25′N, 127°31′E), Jeollabuk-do, was

Results

A total of 1259 fungal isolates were obtained from 45 sampling plates at 3 WCHs (Table 1). The majority of fungal species belonged to 56 taxa of ascomycetes, followed by 7 taxa of basidiomycetes and a taxon of zygomycetes. In YHD, 671 fungal isolates including 20 genera and 25 species were collected in spring, whereas 175 isolates including 11 genera and 12 species were recovered in summer. Ascomycetes were dominant (98.2% of isolates) in spring, whereas basidiomycetes were dominant (69.1% of

Differences between the open and closed buildings

To understand the differences in fungal distribution between environments inside the open and closed buildings, we compared the fungal diversity of YHD (where all doors have always been open to the public and visitors are sometimes allowed) and JHN (a completely closed building) in Changdeokgung Palace Complex. As a result of twice-fungal isolation in spring and summer, the diversity of airborne fungi was not significantly different between YHD and JHN. Many of the same fungal species were

Conclusions

The results of the present study suggest that WCHs have been exposed to various airborne fungi and the diversity of fungi that might damage WCHs varies depending on the seasonal factors, the open or closed status of a building, and geographical differences. During the spring season, there seems to be rich fungal diversity at all sampling sites, and ascomycetes are mainly isolated. On the other hand, basidiomycetes dominate in summer, at low levels of fungal diversity. In addition, due to the

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the project of National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Korea (NRICH-1207-B11F-1) and the BK21 Plus program in 2013 (Project No. 21A20130012270) funded by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF).

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