TY - JOUR
T1 - Species- and site-specific efficacy of commercial biocides and application solvents against lichens
AU - Ravera, Sonia
AU - Ravera, Sonia
AU - Matteucci, Enrica
AU - Bertuzzi, Stefano
AU - Malaspina, Paola
AU - Vannini, Andrea
AU - Giordani, Paolo
AU - Bianchi, Elisabetta
AU - Segimiro, Alessandro
AU - Buffa, Giorgio
AU - Benesperi, Renato
AU - Roccardi, Ada
AU - Paoli, Luca
AU - Loppi, Stefano
AU - Favero-Longo, Sergio E.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Control of lichens on stone cultural heritage is mostly achieved by a combination of mechanical removal with biocide applications. However, there is a lack of scientific evidence on the efficacy of different biocides on different species, and on the consistency of biocide effects on heritage sites in different environmental conditions. This results in some uncertainty when conservation interventions to control lichens are routinely defined on the basis of restoration tradition or empirical evaluation, without experimental measures of how lichens respond. In this work, we quantitatively evaluated (a) the efficacy of five commercially-available biocides, applied using a brush or with a cellulose poultice, against two species (Protoparmeliopsis muralis, Verrucaria nigrescens), and (b) whether the effects on the two species were consistent, per treatment, across three Italian heritage sites. Lichen vitality was quantified through analyses of chlorophyll a fluorescence (ChlaF) and ergosterol content. The results indicated that all the tested biocides, and their organic solvents, affected the vitality of both the species. However, most of treatments displayed different efficacy on each species, across the different sites and between brush and poultice applications. Accordingly, when a conservation intervention to control lichen growth is planned, biocide treatments need both species- and site-specific calibrations and lichen vitality should be properly ascertained in situ by monitoring ChlaF parameters (FV/FM and F0) twenty days after trial biocide applications.
AB - Control of lichens on stone cultural heritage is mostly achieved by a combination of mechanical removal with biocide applications. However, there is a lack of scientific evidence on the efficacy of different biocides on different species, and on the consistency of biocide effects on heritage sites in different environmental conditions. This results in some uncertainty when conservation interventions to control lichens are routinely defined on the basis of restoration tradition or empirical evaluation, without experimental measures of how lichens respond. In this work, we quantitatively evaluated (a) the efficacy of five commercially-available biocides, applied using a brush or with a cellulose poultice, against two species (Protoparmeliopsis muralis, Verrucaria nigrescens), and (b) whether the effects on the two species were consistent, per treatment, across three Italian heritage sites. Lichen vitality was quantified through analyses of chlorophyll a fluorescence (ChlaF) and ergosterol content. The results indicated that all the tested biocides, and their organic solvents, affected the vitality of both the species. However, most of treatments displayed different efficacy on each species, across the different sites and between brush and poultice applications. Accordingly, when a conservation intervention to control lichen growth is planned, biocide treatments need both species- and site-specific calibrations and lichen vitality should be properly ascertained in situ by monitoring ChlaF parameters (FV/FM and F0) twenty days after trial biocide applications.
KW - Biocide
KW - Chlorophyll a fluorescence
KW - Ergosterol
KW - Lichen
KW - Organic solvents
KW - Biocide
KW - Chlorophyll a fluorescence
KW - Ergosterol
KW - Lichen
KW - Organic solvents
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10447/413218
M3 - Article
VL - 123
SP - 127
EP - 137
JO - INTERNATIONAL BIODETERIORATION & BIODEGRADATION
JF - INTERNATIONAL BIODETERIORATION & BIODEGRADATION
SN - 0964-8305
ER -