Project:

An Investigation of the Biodiversity of Beneficial and Detrimental Mushroom Species and how they Affect the Enviroment in Long I

Students:

Siena Scagliola, Apollina Novosselov, Michelle Pinilla

School:

Glen Cove High School, Nassau

Mentors:

Kerry Bunyan

Abstract:

Mushrooms impact the ecosystem by breaking down any decaying organic matter in a similar process to digestion which will allow it to absorb those nutrients. This is important and helpful to the environment because it helps break down and recycle the nutrients (Wildlife leadership Academy, 2018). We think that the biodiversity of mushrooms more commonly found around Glen Cove are more likely to be species that are beneficial for the environment. We also think that Garvies point will have more diversity of beneficial mushrooms compared to the biodiversity of mushrooms we would find around Glen Cove high school campus. Mushrooms will be collected from both sites and we will use DNA barcoding to isolate the ITS gene, used for identification of fungi species.

Poster:

Team samples: