The fungal flora at various historical locations in Izmir, Turkey

In our study, surface and environmental air samples from the historical buildings (houses, kiosks, Turkish bath, khans, train station) in seven different locations were investigated for their fungal flora. Sampling was performed in seven locations in Izmir (Bornova, Buca, Cesme, Foca, Karsiyaka, Konak and Tire) in autumn and summer of 2009. Totally 192 isolates were obtained from the air and surface samples of these places. Air samples were collected using a MAS-100 Microbial Air Sampler (Merck) and fungal load were detected by using Rose Bengal Chloramphenicol Agar (RBCA, Merck). Biofilm samples were obtained from different surfaces (stone, wood, plaster, marble, limestone, brick and paint). As a result of our study, 25 genera related to Zygomycota , anamorph Ascomycota and teleomorph Ascomycota were identified. Besides, Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp., Phoma sp., Alternaria sp., Chaetomium sp. and Cladosporium sp. were appeared the most frequently fungi genera. However, 6 isolates were not identified. It was observed that Aspergillus sp. was at the first stage with frequency of 21.88% while Penicillium sp. was at the second stage with 17.70%. In our study it was also shown that fungal load was much more in autumn than in summer due to its high moisture content and optimum temperature. Keywords: Airborne fungi, Ascomycota, Biofilm, Biomass, Microfungi. *Corresponding Author: Asli Sahiner (e-mail: asli.sahiner@ege.edu.tr ) (Received: 03.08.2012 Accepted: 03.01.2012)