Project:

What is the effect of urban environments on the moss biodiversity in New York State?

Students:

Jane Staeger, Penelope Chun, Stella Larocque

School:

The Spence School, Manhattan

Mentors:

Aruna Chavali

Abstract:

We are pursuing an investigation into the moss biodiversity of a forest in Upstate New York, Black Rock Forest, compared to a greenspace inside New York City, Central Park. We will take samples of moss from the same general place in each location: moss rooted on a rock, with the rock lying near a footpath of some sort, to allow for the highest chance of multiple species being found. Many people explore both locations on foot in shoes that often have the ability to pick up spores of moss, so, for example, different species cultivating on rocks across a lake would be able to theoretically travel across the lake by this method. We hypothesize that there will be more moss biodiversity in Black Rock Forest because of the larger area moss has to develop, grow, and create new communities from the foot traffic. As Central Park is an enclosed greenspace inside of a city, there are less possible ways for moss species to travel past the boundaries of the park. Moss is an often looked-over plant,

Poster:

Team samples: