Photo: Ditte Valente
Photo: Ditte Valente
Photo: Ditte Valente

Roskilde: Hunting for fungi and mould in tents

Bacteria and microorganisms
After just a few nights at Roskilde Festival, there is fungal growth in the tent. Some of the fungi are harmful—particularly if you have or are susceptible to fungal allergy. Others are similar to those we use for baking bread or brewing beer. But what kind of fungi grow under the tent canvas or on the roll mat, and what do they look like? Four students from DTU have decided to find out...

On Monday, 27 June, four students went out with a handcart and collected between 50 and 60 mould and fungal samples from the festival-goers’ sleeping quarters and placed them on agar plates to germinate and grow them (agar is a gelatinous substance used as a culture medium for microbiological work). After only a couple of days, the fungi and mould develop into beautiful formations, which the students analyse under a microscope.

“The festival-goers were very creative in terms of how we should collect the samples,” says Karen Jørgensen, who is heading up the ‘Mould is beautiful’ project. “We have, for example, helped them collect samples from everything from socks and underwear to sleeping bags and tents, so it will be interesting to see what we end up with.”

Drumming up interest
The project is intended to create interest for microorganisms such as fungi by showing the festival guests what fungi looks like, what they are capable of, and where they are—also when you cannot see them.

"On a very windy day like today, fungal spores are easily spread between the camping areas."
Karen Jørgensen

After five days, some of the fungal cultures will have developed into large, clear spots, which the festival-goers can come and see for themselves on Saturday, 2 July.

“Some of fungal cultures will by then be the size of a coin,” says Karen Jørgensen.

“It’s important to show that fungi aren’t just harmful, but also how exciting and useful mould fungi and yeast can be, by telling them about the positive and negative properties of the fungi.”

Mould beauty contest
There is also a competition in connection with the project, where you can vote for your own sample or the one you think is the most beautiful. The ‘mould beauty contest’ will be decided on Saturday afternoon.

“We expect to find various types of yeast and have, for example, seen mouldy rye bread in some of the tent areas. We know that fungal spores are airborne, so it will be interesting to see what they develop into. In Clean City, we have seen clear traces of mould fungi,” Karen Jørgensen explains.

Even though it is part of the project, Karen Jørgensen does not expect the fungal conditions to differ much from camping area to camping area.

“On a very windy day like today, fungal spores are easily spread between the camping areas, but it will be interesting to see if we can detect any difference.”

The members of the project group are all BSc students at DTU, and, in addition to Karen Jørgensen, the group includes Kathrine Ørnslund and Line Roager, both Biotechnology students, and Julie Regitze Franck, who is studying Architectural Engineering.