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Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology

International Journal of Speleology

Underground

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Culture-Based Analysis Of ‘Cave Silver’ Biofilms On Rocks In The Former Homestake Mine In South Dakota, Usa, Amanpreet K. Brar, David Bergmann Jun 2019

Culture-Based Analysis Of ‘Cave Silver’ Biofilms On Rocks In The Former Homestake Mine In South Dakota, Usa, Amanpreet K. Brar, David Bergmann

International Journal of Speleology

Tunnels in a warm, humid area of the 1478 m level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), located in a former gold mine in South Dakota, USA, host irregular, thin whitish, iridescent biofilms, which appear superficially similar to ‘cave silver’ biofilms described from limestone and lava tube caves, despite the higher rock temperature (32°C) and differing rock surface (phyllite) present at SURF. In this study, we investigated the diversity of cultivable bacteria constituting the cave silver by using several media: CN agar, CN gellan gum and 0.1X R2A agar. The highest colony count (CFU/g of sample) was observed on …


Atp Luminescence Assay As A Bioburden Estimator Of Biomass Accumulation In Caves, Janez Mulec, Andreea Oarga-Mulec Aug 2016

Atp Luminescence Assay As A Bioburden Estimator Of Biomass Accumulation In Caves, Janez Mulec, Andreea Oarga-Mulec

International Journal of Speleology

A commercially available adenosine triphosphate (ATP) detection system (Hygiena, USA), supported by cultivable microbial indicators, was used to estimate bioburden in different habitats in and outside show caves: air, water and solid surfaces. A strong positive correlation between ATP concentration expressed as Relative Light Units (RLU) and Colony-Forming-Units (CFU) was observed for swab samples from cave surfaces. In terms of ATP units, surfaces in a single cave system (Postojna Cave) varied considerably (240-1,258,800 RLU/ 20 cm2) and commonly exceeded the bioburden level of analogues on the surface (0-114,390 RLU/ 20 cm2). Cave sub-habitats were colonized by …