Major
Forensic Science
Anticipated Graduation Year
2025
Access Type
Restricted Access
Abstract
Scientists have proposed that measuring the breakdown of plant leaves that fall into streams (leaf litter) can be a useful indicator of stream ecological health. Fungi are an important part of this process because they colonize leaf litter that enters streams and catalyze its decomposition. Cotton strips have been used as surrogates for leaves in studies of leaf litter breakdown in streams. My study assessed the validity of this approach by incubating cotton and leaves from four tree species in the Chicago River and analyzing their fungal communities. My results indicated that cotton and leaves supported similar fungal communities.
Community Partners
Loyola University Chicago
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
John J. Kelly, Biology Department Chair, Professor Ph.D.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Cotton Strips as a Model Substrate for Analysis of Leaf-Colonizing Fungi in Streams
Scientists have proposed that measuring the breakdown of plant leaves that fall into streams (leaf litter) can be a useful indicator of stream ecological health. Fungi are an important part of this process because they colonize leaf litter that enters streams and catalyze its decomposition. Cotton strips have been used as surrogates for leaves in studies of leaf litter breakdown in streams. My study assessed the validity of this approach by incubating cotton and leaves from four tree species in the Chicago River and analyzing their fungal communities. My results indicated that cotton and leaves supported similar fungal communities.