Project:

Investigating the Biodiversity of Lichen in New York City

Students:

Saya Taylor, Maya Anwar, Sharmin Sultana, Geoffrey Fletcher

School:

High School for Health Professions and Human Services, Manhattan

Mentors:

Rocheli Apilan

Abstract:

Lichens are extremely diverse organisms. They are a complex fungus-algae lifeform that grows on trees around the world with over 15,000-20,000 species’. Similar to Lichens, the five boroughs of New York also incredibly diverse in terms of people, environment and climate. Each neighborhood has its own unique environment which attributes to the species diversity found in the areas. We would like to look at the correlation between Lichen species and New York environments to understand the unique nature of both variables. This research will allow us to look into this often overlooked organism as well as investigate some of the less researched New York’s neighborhoods. Despite being a big city most scientists visit Central Park for conducting research on biodiversity. Collection will take place in McCarren Park located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Those specimens will be compared to lichens collected from Hudson River Park in Chelsea, Manhattan. Manhattan is a very dense area with high poll

Poster:

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