Project:

Lichens as a bioindicator of air quality in Glen Cove

Students:

Gianna Zangari, Kathleen Wetterer, Julia Petrizzo

School:

Glen Cove High School, Nassau

Mentors:

Kerry Bunyan

Abstract:

We are looking to find the varieties of lichen that are found around Glen Cove, specifically on the Glen Cove High School campus. We plan to determine if lichen is a bioindicator of air quality and test our hypothesis of which lichen are associated with good air quality compared to which lichen are associated with bad air quality. When the lichen is collected we will use paint scrapers to remove the lichen from the substrate (tree or rock). We will then store the lichen in a Ziploc bag then place the lichen in 95% ethanol prior to DNA extraction to make sure there is no bark or any of the substrate left on the sample. Lichen is a combination of both algae and fungi meaning we will have to isolate the ITS gene from the lichen. This will allow us to determine which species of lichen were found. We anticipate we may find the three most common species of lichen which can be identified as fructose, fruticose and foliose. Our goal is to determine the quality of air in Glen Cove, based on the

Poster:

Team samples: