TY - JOUR

T1 - Role of fungal mycelium in the formation of carbonate concretions in growing media-an investigation by SEM and synchrotron-based X-ray tomographic microscopy

AU - Masaphy, S.

AU - Zabari, L.

AU - Pastrana, J.

AU - Dultz, S.

N1 - Funding information: X-ray-tomographic microscopy was performed at the TOMCAT beamline at the synchrotron light source of the Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland. Skillful help by Federica Marone and Marco Stampanoni is gratefully acknowledged. This work was supported by the European Commission under contract no.: RII3-CT-2004-506008. We thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.

PY - 2009/10

Y1 - 2009/10

N2 - Soil fungi can facilitate calcification. Mushroom Morchella sp. mycelium induced the formation of carbonate concretions on the surface of an organic-based growing media amended with sand and ground limestone. According to SEM observation and X-ray-tomographic microscopy a dense mycelial network induced calcification. The CaCO3 content of concretions (Ø: 0.3-1.5 cm) was found to be at 30%. Microsparitic calcite cemented the pores between the sand grains forming a dense clogging microstructure. Besides water uptake by the mycelium, a high evaporation rate and a decrease in pCO2 contributed to the formation of the concretions. Fungal mycelium in the concretions is surrounded by voids indicating that at the surface of the mycelium, calcification is counteracted most probably by the release of organic acids.

AB - Soil fungi can facilitate calcification. Mushroom Morchella sp. mycelium induced the formation of carbonate concretions on the surface of an organic-based growing media amended with sand and ground limestone. According to SEM observation and X-ray-tomographic microscopy a dense mycelial network induced calcification. The CaCO3 content of concretions (Ø: 0.3-1.5 cm) was found to be at 30%. Microsparitic calcite cemented the pores between the sand grains forming a dense clogging microstructure. Besides water uptake by the mycelium, a high evaporation rate and a decrease in pCO2 contributed to the formation of the concretions. Fungal mycelium in the concretions is surrounded by voids indicating that at the surface of the mycelium, calcification is counteracted most probably by the release of organic acids.

KW - Calcification

KW - Growing media

KW - Microstructure

KW - Morchella

KW - SEM

KW - X-ray-tomographic microscopy

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70349824104&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/01490450903060798

DO - 10.1080/01490450903060798

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:70349824104

VL - 26

SP - 442

EP - 450

JO - Geomicrobiology journal

JF - Geomicrobiology journal

SN - 0149-0451

IS - 7

ER -