Mycological characteristics of the cultural layer of a medieval settlement on soddy calcareous soils

Abstract

The difference between fungal communities in the cultural layer of a medieval settlement and in the background soddy calcareous soil is shown. In the cultural layer, the portion of spores, especially large spores (d > 6 µ m), in the total fungal biomass is increased, whereas the portion of mycelium, especially with a thick- ness of > 4 µ m, is decreased. The species composition of micromycetes in the cultural layer is also transformed; species from the Aspergillus and Fusarium genera predominate. The frequency and diversity of Penicillium rep- resentatives decreases, whereas the fungal species from the Phoma, Doratomyces, Geomyces , and Verticillium genera, which are not typical of the background soil horizons, increases. The diversity of the minor fungal spe- cies also increases in the cultural layer. An increased content of keratin-decomposing soil fungi is found in the cultural layer. It is argued that the use of the entire set of these characteristics makes it possible to perform mycological indication of the parts of the cultural layer that served different purposes (ancient streets, house floors, backing of the walls, etc.) within the settlement.