Project:

The biodiversity of mushrooms in Rockefeller State Park Preserve in Pleasantville, NY

Students:

Anjali Shafiee, Isabella Avila, Ava Alvarez, Christina Huerta-Stylianou

School:

The Ursuline School, Other

Mentors:

Oxana Litvine

Abstract:

Mushrooms are a type of fungi that is in the order of Agaricales in the phylum of Basidiomycota. Mushrooms come in various shapes and sizes, and one of the oldest groups of living organisms. Mushrooms are saprophytes, meaning that they obtain their nutrients from nonliving organic matter. They play a large role in the ecosystem as they recycle nutrients from dead plant matter and return it to the soil, allowing plants to use those nutrients and grow. Certain types of mushrooms have properties in which they can absorb pollutants from the environment, therefore decontaminating soils so that producers can continue to grow. The goal of our project is to identify the diversity of mushroom species in the Rockefeller State Park Preserve, located in Mount Pleasant, New York.

Poster:

Team samples: