More fungi, more information (FungiVE)
from 01/08/2025 until 01/09/2026
Life is all around us, even in environments that offer extremely demanding conditions. Solar panels and solar power plants are examples of such environments. Despite the fact that the surface temperature of the panels varies greatly throughout the year and that the panels are exposed to high solar radiation and other weather influences, they can be colonized by various types of microorganisms. Among them, fungal communities that can be found in nature on rocks in the desert predominate. These fungi need to protect themselves from strong solar radiation, so they contain dark pigments. The colonization of panels by fungal communities can thus affect the efficiency of light transmission and, consequently, electricity production. In order to study these fungal communities, we have developed new laboratory methods for detecting and counting some of the most common types of fungi. We want to use these methods to study samples from the surfaces of solar power plants throughout Slovenia. If you are interested in finding out whether fungi are present on your solar power plant, we invite you to join us and send us a sample (swab) from the surface of one of your solar panels.
Aim
The majority of
solar power plants in Slovenia are citizen-owned self-supply systems.
Therefore, we aim to collaborate with their owners, who will assist us in
collecting samples from across the country. These samples will be evaluated
using molecular methods for quantifying extremophilic fungi, developed within our
umbrella project, FungiMET. Through the involvement of citizen scientists, we will
be able to achieve two main objectives. First, the collected samples will allow
us to validate our newly developed molecular methods using real-world material.
Second, provided that this validation is successful, we will gain insight into the
fungal composition of microbial communities inhabiting Slovenian solar panels.
Knowledge of which fungal species colonize solar panels, and the ability to
rapidly and accurately identify them, will be valuable for the development of
new mitigation strategies, such as appropriate and environmentally friendly
cleaning approaches.
How to participate
Applications will be accepted from February 1, 2025, to March 31, 2025. You can apply using the form on the fungive.si website. The condition for application is a solar power plant that is safely accessible for sampling. When you apply, we will also collect basic information about your solar power plant, such as its location (the location is intended to identify the distribution of specific fungi in Slovenia and, with the consent of the owners, will be published in the form of a location on a map of Slovenia), the type of environment in which it is located (e.g., urban environment, proximity to industry, proximity to roads/highways, rural area, proximity to water bodies, forests, quarries, etc.), when it was last cleaned, etc. We will collect samples in April and May 2026. Participants will receive sampling kits with instructions by mail. The collected samples will then be sent back to us for laboratory analysis.
Needed equipment
Participants will
be sent sampling kits that include sampling swabs and a surface sampling
template. The kits will also contain detailed sampling instructions, as well as
pre-labelled labelled envelope for returning the samples. Participants will be
required to provide a small amount of tap water to rinse, the sampling surface
as specified in the instructions.
About funding
Funding bodies: Slovenian Research Agency (ARIS)
Funding program: O2-50088
Coordinator
National Institute of Biology
Academic
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