Project:

Using Plant Biodiversity as a Bioindicator of Air Quality in New York City Parks

Students:

Sonia Tarnawski, Chloe Chin, Unica Columna

School:

Forest Hills HIgh School, Queens

Mentors:

Lauren Scanlon

Abstract:

The purpose of this Urban Barcoding project is to determine the levels of ozone in the air by collecting samples from various types of plants. Our group will be going to a total of 3 different parks in New York City, and we are going to collect plants from different areas in those parks. Selecting plants from not just one specific area will allow our group to determine if the air quality is the same throughout the whole entire park, or if the state of the air quality changes throughout the whole park. The locations in which we have taken the plant samples from are specified on the map. What differs about these areas is that some have different levels of humidity, temperatures, and growth of grass, etc. These are just some of the many factors that have an impact on the levels of ozone in an area. By conducting this experiment, we are able to learn more about the effects of ozone on plants. Furthermore, we can also possibly explore deeper into how ozone may affect not only plants, but al

Poster:

Team samples: