Abstract
Wooden buildings are facing biodeterioration because of the natural weathering. Ancestral halls are traditional Chinese wooden architecture with high artistic value. The research analyzed the microbial diversity of nine ancestral halls with different visitor flow rates in Guangdong Province under subtropical monsoon climates. With amplicon sequencing and conventional culturing methods, a common core harmful microorganism group which are proven to be capable of degrading cellulose and lignin was found, and some of them originated from human activities, including Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Paenibacillus, Acinetobacter, Toxicocladosporium, Cladosporium, Aspergillus, and Epicoccum, allowing us to apply unified antimicrobial methods to different ancestral halls in Guangdong Province. Additionally, the microbial community is similar between damaged and undamaged points, predicting the potential risk of taking paint coating as the only method for antimicrobial preservation. Hence, we evaluated the effect of four representative biocides and determined the feasibility of low-concentration Isothiazolinone. This research adds significant reference for the protection of wooden buildings.
Key points A common core harmful microorganism group was discovered on the ancestral halls.
Some of the harmful microorganisms are relative to the human activities.
Only taking paint coating for antimicrobial preservation has potential risk.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
The title had been revised.
