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| Snottites growing on cave wall. (Credit: Daniel S. Jones, Penn State) |
Biofilms, which are complex layered communities of sulfur-consuming microbes, increase the rate of cave formation, but may also shed light on other biofilms, including those that grow on teeth and those that corrode steel ships hulls, according to a team of geologists.
"Cave biofilms are simpler than the microbes that occur in soils where there can be hundreds of thousands of species," says Dr. Jennifer L. Macalady, assistant professor of geosciences, Penn State. "Some cave biofilms have very few species, 10 to 20. The more complex ones have 100s or 1,000s."
The researchers investigated the Frasassi cave system located north of Rome and south of Venice in Italy. These limestone caves are like New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns and Lechuguilla
Cave, but in those caves, sulfur entered the caves from oil and gas reserves, while in Italy, the sulfur source is a thick gypsum layer below. Having sulfur in the environment allows these biofilms to grow.
"Cave biofilms are simpler than the microbes that occur in soils where there can be hundreds of thousands of species," says Dr. Jennifer L. Macalady, assistant professor of geosciences, Penn State. "Some cave biofilms have very few species, 10 to 20. The more complex ones have 100s or 1,000s."
The researchers investigated the Frasassi cave system located north of Rome and south of Venice in Italy. These limestone caves are like New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns and Lechuguilla
Cave, but in those caves, sulfur entered the caves from oil and gas reserves, while in Italy, the sulfur source is a thick gypsum layer below. Having sulfur in the environment allows these biofilms to grow.