Effect of disturbance on fungal communities growing on different building materials
Growth of fungal communities on common building materials was used to test predictions on how ecological disturbances, namely wet and dry cycling, affected diversity parameters. Fungi and bacteria were passively inoculated on coupons of various building materials, namely medium density fiberboard, gypsum wallboard and oriented strand board. The coupons were kept wet or periodically air-dried and the fungal and bacterial communities were sampled using swabs every 14 days over a 7-week period.