Project:

Effects of Nitrogen Oxide on the Biodiversity of Lichens in Central Park and Northern New Jersey

Students:

Elliot Park, Lindsey Jung

School:

tenafly HS, Other

Mentors:

anat firnberg

Abstract:

Lichens have different growth forms, allowing researchers to infer the general level of air pollution in the area using the naked eye. In this project, we will use lichens as bioindicators of nitrogen oxide in the atmosphere in two locations: Tenafly Nature Center, NJ and Central Park, NY. We predict the levels of nitrogen oxide to be lower at Tenafly Nature Center compared to Central Park since the Nature Center has less exposure to high motor vehicle traffic. The Nature Center is located in a suburban area, whereas Central Park is amidst the tireless and active city. Therefore, levels of nitrogen oxide is shown in charts to be significantly high. We presume that high motor vehicle traffic leads to high concentrations of nitrogen oxide to be emitted into the atmosphere, affecting the neighboring ecosystems. We will extract DNA from our lichen's samples and send the DNA for sequencing. We will use bioinformatics to identify our lichen's species.

Poster:

Team samples: