## 3 Results and Discussion
### Influence of Culture Media on Species Richness  
Regarding fungal cultivation, the different growth rates and nutrient requirements of different taxa are two key limiting factors [65]. To optimize our chances of recovering the greatest number of distinct species, but also to increase the likelihood of obtaining novel species, a total of six different culture media were used: standard PDA, a nutrient-rich generalist medium used for yeast and fungi isolation; DG-18, a selective medium for low water activity and xerophilic fungi; MEA supplemented with 10% NaCl (\(w/v\)), to facilitate the growth of halophilic fungi and some xerophilic species [66, 67]; CZ used to isolate saprophytic fungi capable of utilizing sodium nitrate as the sole source of nitrogen; RB which helps to restrict the overgrowth of fast-growing strains, and also in the isolation of microcolonial fungi; and DSMZ 372-Halobacteria medium supplemented with 10%  
Figure 9: Network analysis showing the co-occurrence patterns of the cultivable species among sampling sites and their distinct biodeterioration patterns.  
NaCl (\(w/v\)) (HM 10%), which is useful in the isolation of microcolonial and halotolerant fungi [63].  
Nutrient-rich media, such as PDA, tend to favor common fungal generalists that grow rapidly, often outgrowing more specialized species, and although they are commonly used, they are not suitable for the overall biodiversity analyses [68; 69]. The importance of adding a wider variety of more selective culture media and prolonged incubation periods is that it provides an opportunity for slow growers and specialized species to develop and be detected [68; 70; 71].  
Of the 123 fungal isolates recovered, the majority were obtained from DG18 (25%), followed by PDA (17%), CZ (16%), RB (15%), MEA NaCl 10% (15%) and lastly HM NaCl 10% (12%) (Figure 10). Additionally, DG18 provided the highest number of distinct taxa across all samples. These variations are determined according to their specific growth needs and demonstrate a high dominance of xerophilic species, distinguished by their ability to grow under conditions of low water activity. Only samples L2 and L3 had a wide range of distinct taxa isolated across all culture media, indicating a great versatility in the species present in those samples.  
Through a comparative analysis of the network results, showing the effect of each culture medium on the isolation of different species, it can be clearly observed that most species had a particular preference for a certain growth medium (Figure 11). Only _Parengyodonttium album_ and _Cladosporium phareospermum_ were isolated in all six media. This result makes sense when we consider that both these species are globally distributed, highly ubiquitous and considered among the most common species found as indoor externotol-erant contaminants [72; 73; 74]. In addition, these species have been frequently reported as halotolerant and able to grow in multiple environments, including stone [75; 76].  
Other commonly retrieved species across different media are _C. cladosporoides_, _C. tenuissimum_, _Penicillium breicompactum_ and _Aspergillus fumigatus_.  
The use of the high vs. selective nutrient approach to the cultivation of fungi resulted in a significantly different species composition being recovered from each media. Based on the presented species segregation throughout the different media, it is possible that culture methods could have been improved even further, with the introduction of new variables such as a wide range of growth temperatures, pH and osmotic concentrations, ultraviolet radiation exposure, among others, potentially enlarging the diversity of cultured microorganisms [77]. These results confirmed that the use of various culture media had a significant influence on the recovered species diversity. Furthermore, a greater number of unknown species (possibly novel taxa) were recovered from the selective media.  
Figure 10: Number of different taxa and % of total isolates (same or different taxa) retrieved from each culture media.