Project:

Mycorrhizal and Lignicolous Fungi: Hazmat Technicians of Your Parks

Students:

Keili Vargas, Liridona Asani, Jaiden Berman, Darihanny Rodriguez, Jayleen Torralba - Bonilla

School:

FMHS, Manhattan

Mentors:

Dora Miklos

Abstract:

Fungi are among one of our most important species in nature, vital and responsible for the overall health across different ecosystems. Fungi are especially an important part of soil health and diversity. One of the major drivers of soil health and carbon sequestration are Fungi (Viana, 2021). Fungi have lots of functions: they can be used for medicinal reasons, food, biocontrol, and even filtration (Wahab et. al, 2023). Mycorrhizal and Lignicolous fungi belong to unique species of fungi able to filter soil and mitigate heavy metal pollution such as lead, mercury, etc (Vaksmaa et. al, 2023). These heavy metals are usually harmful to the microbes and plants found in the ecosystems as they affect cellular processes, inhibit enzyme functions and biodiversity in soil. Long term exposure to metals like mercury, lead and cadmium can harm plant growth and nutrient uptake. These fungi species are able to remove mercury through biosorption, where mercury ions bind to fungal cell wall components

Team samples:

See all samples for project