A small part of the Gobholo cave in westernSwaziland (southern Africa) has been usedfor touristic adventure tours for a few years,but the cave has never been surveyed norinvestigated scientifically. An internationalteam of speleologists started exploring, surveyingand documenting the cave in early2014. So far, more than 1 km has been surveyed,making Gobholo cave one of theworld’s longest granite caves and severalcontinuations are still unexplored. The upperparts of the cave are located in a rockfalldeposit overlying the Gobholo river, whereasthe lower parts originated from in-situweathering of the archaic alkali feldspargranite. The river floods large parts of thecave during heavy rainfalls and is responsiblefor the partial removal of the weatheringmaterial out of the cave. Manifold and numerousflowstones (composed of opal-Aand pigotite) probably formed via microbialprocesses. The cave is also a habitat for variousanimal species, including bats, spidersand cave crickets. Archaeologic artefactsprobably dating back to the local Stone Ageand Iron Age bear evidence of a former culturaluse of the cave. A thermal spring wasfound and temperature, CO2 and radonmeasurements provide data about the caveclimate which is characterised by fairly goodventilation. The age of the cave is uncertainbut the only approximately dated archaeologicalartefacts suggest a minimum age of40,000 years.

Shrubs to medium-sized trees, some vines. Leaves alternate to almost verticillate (Paracryphia), simple, margins finely serrate or sometimes entire; stipules absent; dense pubescence on young leaves, absent on mature foliage. Flowers in axillary or terminal racemes or compound spikes, bisexual or unisexual (plants andromonoecious); perianth differentiated into 4–5 sepals and 4–5 white, free, deciduous petals (Quintinia), or with undifferentiated perianth of 4 caducous, decussate, concave, free, imbricate segments (Paracryphia); stamens 4–5 (Quintinia) or ca. 8 (Paracryphia) in a single whorl; anthers basifixed, tetrasporangiate, with longitudinal dehiscence; ovary superior (Paracryphia) or inferior (Quintinia); 8–15- (Paracryphia) or 3–5-locular (Quintinia), ovules 4 per locule (Paracryphia) or numerous; style elongated with 3–5-lobed stigma (Quintinia), or absent (Paracryphia). Fruit capsular, septicidal; seeds small, winged in Paracryphia and mostQuintina, copiously endospermic.

The Kungsträdgården metro station is an artificial and urban subsurface environment illuminated with artificial light. Its ecosystem is almost completely unknown and as a first step to better understand the biology and rock wall habitats the diatom flora was investigated. A total of 12 species were found growing on the rock walls of Kungsträdgården metro station. The results show the diatom flora in Kungsträdgården to be dominated by e.g. Diadesmis contenta, Diadesmis perpusilla, Pinnularia appendiculata, Nitzschia amphibia, Nitzschia sinuata and Diploneis ovalis. One species, Caloneis cf. aerophila, has never been reported from Sweden before. Significant differences in the species composition between the sampling sites indicate Kungsträdgården metro station to be a heterogeneous habitat that provides different microhabitats.

Fungi in subsurface and underground environments is a rather new and underexplored field within mycology, and our understanding of these communities are sparse. However, available reports indicate a high fungal diversity with a large poriton of undescribed taxa in these settings. Here we investigate the fungal presence in the Falun copper mine, Sweden, with the aim to identify fungi useable in bioremediation processes. Thirteen of fourteen samples were successfully cultured, and nine isolates obtained in total. Further culturing and investigations are needed to understand the bioremediation abilities among the fungi, but this first reort indicates a high abundance and diversity of fungi in the underground Falun copper mine.

Subshrubs (Valdivia), shrubs or small trees. Leaves alternate, exstipulate, simple, entire, crenulate, or serrate to biserrate. Inflorescence axillary or terminal racemes, sometimes panicles, many-flowered (up to 800 flowers in some Escallonia), few-flowered (Anopterus, Forgesia, Valdiviaand some Escallonia), or flowers solitary (some Escallonia). Flowers bisexual, rarely unisexual, actinomorphic, hypogynous to epigynous; sepals fused, 5(−9), persistent; petals free, 5(−9), imbricate, rarely valvate; nectary disk present, epigynous; stamens 5(−9), alternipetalous; filaments free; anthers basifixed or versatile, bisporangiate, introrse to extrorse; ovary of 2(−5) united carpels, inferior to superior, 1–3(−5)-locular, placentation parietal; ovules numerous to few; styles simple or two more or less separate stylodia (Anopterus, Forgesia); stigma capitate, 2–5-lobed. Fruits capsular, septicidal, opening from the top, rarely from the base (Escallonia), or indehiscent (Valdivia), with many to few seeds.

Evergreen shrubs or trees. Leaves opposite to subopposite, exstipulate, petiolate, simple, entire to spinulose-dentate. Inflorescence a terminal, lax raceme, flowers rarely solitary, with 1–3 entire bracteoles or one 3-fid bracteole. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, perigynous to epigynous, fragrant; sepals 4, small, fused, persistent; petals 4, valvate in bud, free but sometimes cohering, deciduous, hairy; stamens 4, alternipetalous, free, filaments flattened, hairy; anthers introrse, linear, basifixed; intrastaminal nectar disk present; ovary of 2 united carpels, partly to completely inferior, 1-locular (appearing 2-locular due to intruding placentation), placentation parietal, ovules numerous; style simple, filiform, stigma weakly bilobed. Fruit a drupe. Seed single, large, with thick, smooth testa, endosperm abundant, embryo small.

Rock-inhabiting fungi harbour species-rich, poorly differentiated, extremophilic taxa of polyphyletic origin. Their closest relatives are often well-known species from various biotopes with significant pathogenic potential. Speleothems represent a unique rock-dwelling habitat, whose mycobiota are largely unexplored. Isolation of fungi from speleothem biofilm covering bare granite walls in the Kungsträdgården metro station in Stockholm yielded axenic cultures of two distinct black yeast morphotypes. Phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences from six nuclear loci, ITS, nuc18S and nuc28S rDNA, rpb1, rpb2 and β-tubulin, support their placement in the Chaetothyriales (Ascomycota). They are described as a new genus Bacillicladium with the type species B. lobatum, and a new species Bradymyces graniticola. Bacillicladium is distantly related to the known five chaetothyrialean families and is unique in the Chaetothyriales by variable morphology showing hyphal, meristematic and yeast-like growth in vitro. The nearest relatives of Bacillicladium are recruited among fungi isolated from cardboard-like construction material produced by arboricolous non-attine ants. Their sister relationship is weakly supported by the Maximum likelihood analysis, but strongly supported by Bayesian inference. The genus Bradymyces is placed amidst members of the Trichomeriaceae and is ecologically undefined; it includes an opportunistic animal pathogen while two other species inhabit rock surfaces. ITS rDNA sequences of three species accepted in Bradymyces and other undescribed species and environmental samples were subjected to phylogenetic analysis and in-depth comparative analysis of ITS1 and ITS2 secondary structures in order to study their intraspecific variability. Compensatory base change criterion in the ITS2 secondary structure supported delimitation of species in Bradymyces, which manifest a limited number of phenotypic features useful for species recognition. The role of fungi in the speleothem biofilm and relationships of Bacillicladium and Bradymyces with other members of the Chaetothyriales are discussed.

Tjuv-Antes grotta (Tjuv-Ante's Cave) located in northern Sweden is a round-abraded sea cave ('tunnel cave'), about 30 m in length, formed by rock-water abrasion in a dolerite dyke in granite gneiss. Abundant speleothems are restricted to the inner, mafic parts of the cave and absent on granite parts. The speleothems are of two types: cylindrical (coralloid, popcorn-like), and flowstone (thin crusts). Coralloids correspond to terrestrial stromatolite speleothems in which layers of light calcite alternate with dark, silica-rich laminae. The dark laminae are also enriched in carbon and contain incorporated remains of microorganisms. Two types of microbial communities can be distinguished associated with the speleothems: an Actinobacteria-like biofilm and a fungal community. Actinobacteria seem to play an important role in the formation of speleothem while the fungal community acts as both a constructive and a destructive agent. A modern biofilm dominated by Actinobacteria is present in the speleothem-free parts of the dolerite and located in cave ceiling cracks. These biofilms may represent sites of early speleothem formation. Because of its unusual position in between two types of host rock, Tjuv-Ante's Cave represents a unique environment in which to study differences in microbe-rock interactions and speleothem genesis between the granite and dolerite host rock. Our study shows that the mafic rock is superior to the granite in hosting a microbial community and to support formation of speleothems.

Speleothems are secondary mineral deposits normally formed by water supersaturated with calcium carbonate percolating into underground caves, and are often associated with low-nutrient and mostly non-phototrophic conditions. Tjuv-Ante’s cave is a shallow-depth cave formed by the action of waves, with granite and dolerite as major components, and opal-A and calcite as part of the speleothems, making it a rare kind of cave. We generated two DNA shotgun sequencing metagenomic datasets from the interior of a speleothem from Tjuv-Ante’s cave representing areas of old and relatively recent speleothem formation. We used these datasets to perform i) an evaluation of the use of these speleothems as past biodiversity archives, ii) functional and taxonomic profiling of the speleothem’s different formation periods, and iii) taxonomic comparison of the metagenomic results to previous microscopic analyses from a nearby speleothem of the same cave. Our analyses confirm the abundance of Actinobacteria and fungi as previously reported by microscopic analyses on this cave, however we also discovered a larger biodiversity. Interestingly, we identified photosynthetic genes, as well as genes related to iron and sulphur metabolism, suggesting the presence of chemoautotrophs. Furthermore, we identified taxa and functions related to biomineralization. However, we could not confidently establish the use of this type of speleothems as biological paleoarchives due to the potential leaching from the outside of the cave and the DNA damage that we propose has been caused by the fungal chemical etching.