AB,+AV,+and+Joe+D.

= **Welcome to our Watershed Wikipage! ** =

__**Purpose/Description of project:**__

 * At first, the purpose of our project was to find fungi on trees and see if the fungi affected the tree's growth, and if it did, in what way did it affect it. Our next step would've been to find out how the tree would've been different if fungi had never affected it.
 * However, due to complications and no real method of determining this without knowing when the fungi first grew on the tree, we decided to change the description of our project.
 * Our new project description and purpose is to find the variation of fungi on trees in Flat Rock Brook within selected areas. The locations were simply selected by finding trees with fungi and discovering the coordinates of those trees.

__Hypothesis:__

 * We believe that we will find many different types of fungi growing on trees in our selected locations.
 * We expect a diverse area of fungi because in a wooded area like Flat Rock Brook seems to be a location in which has different types of species growing everywhere specifically because it's a nature center.

__Materials:__

 * Global Positioning System (GPS)
 * Digital camera
 * Ziploc Bags (for data collection)

__Methods:__

 * Search for a tree in Flat Rock Brook (or any heavily wooded park, for that matter) that displays a significant amount of fungi growing on any part of the tree.
 * From the GPS, record the coordinates, the elevation, and the accuracy of the location of the tree with the fungi.
 * Take a picture with a regular or digital camera to capture your data for future reference. From this picture, you will be able to identify the species of the fungi.
 * Continue searching for more trees with fungi and following the same procedure.

__Observations__:

 * We were able to collect some of the fungi off of the first tree and but we were then stopped by park rangers. We were able to determine it was Bracket Fungi as you'll see below, but as for determining the other data we had to use our methods listed above.
 * After re-visiting these locations, we noticed that in each case, because the change in weather, the amount of fungi on the trees began to decrease. After extensive research and determination of fungi, we noticed that certain species of fungi only occur in certain periods of time in the year.
 * Also, because of the locations of the fungi on the trees (whether it was higher or lower) helped determine what type of fungi each of these were.
 * Also, as expected, the color and shape of the fungi on the trees varied, which obviously indicates different types of fungi (which is the entire purpose of our project; to find different types of fungi, "GREAT SUCCESS!").

__Analysis:__

 * || Smoky Bracket Fungi || Shelf Fungi || Bleeding Broadleaf Crust Fungi ||
 * Tree #1 || X ||  ||   ||
 * Tree #2 || X ||  ||   ||
 * Tree #3 || X ||  ||   ||
 * Tree #4 || X ||  ||   ||
 * Tree #5 ||  ||   || X ||
 * Tree #6 ||  ||   || X ||
 * Tree #7 ||  ||   || X ||

__In-Depth Analysis:__

 * After analyzing the two types of fungi, we noticed that they are different in shape color and texture.
 * However, one similarity they do have is that both of these fungi appear and disappear all year long unlike other fungi in which can only be found during certain parts of the year.
 * Another similarity they do have is that they can grow on the bottom of the tree and along the bark of the tree.

__Discussion:__
__Major Successes__:
 * Being able to find varied types of fungi in our respective areas
 * Identifying the different types of fungi
 * Being able to compare the fungi

__Major Disappointments__:
 * Only finding two different types of fungi growing on trees in our respective areas
 * Having to change our topic because of the inability to evaluate the effect fungi had on tree growth

__Sources of Error__:
 * Due to the fact that GPS systems are quite sensitive, it is possible that our locations of each tree could be a little off.
 * The fungi could have been identified incorrectly because of the fact that, like everything else on this earth, things that grow have ancestral species which look very similar so it's possible to confuse one for the other.
 * A specific type of fungi may only grow during one period of time of year, in which case a new fungi could have replaced it.

__Next step/Remaining work:__

 * Our next research steps would go as followed:
 * Going through the park and finding even more specimens that we could compare with our original trees/fungi
 * Figuring out what the significance of these specific fungi are
 * Researching the amount of the species of fungi collected that is found throughout the entire park
 * Looking at the changes in the specimens during the different seasons and figuring out the significance of that data
 * Researching the different ecosystems/environments these fungi grow in and comparing that to Flat Rock Brook
 * Thoroughly researching the different types of fungi found and //why// they were found in this specific environment

__Suggestions:__
As far as suggestions for future Watershed projects, we have a few thoughts and ideas: In the end, just enjoy your time working with your group members, and learn from each other, and most importantly, learn from the environment.
 * 1) Make sure you choose a project that is of your interest and that is doable.
 * 2) Communicate with your group members. Communication is key in a group project, and make sure each group member understands his or her responsibility.
 * 3) Don't be concerned if the topic for your project isn't part of your original plan. In science, we are bound to find complications with our work and our studies. Our group changed our topic for our final presentation due to realization that it was not doable because data collecting was not doable and that would not allow us to complete it as we would have liked to. However, we are glad that we changed our project.
 * 4) Also, if you choose to do our topic, make sure you select your sites as soon as possible in the winter, and observe your sites and locations through different types of weather because, as we learned, the weather has a lot of affect on fungi growth on trees. This could add a whole new aspect to your project.
 * 5) The more you go during different parts of the year and under different weather conditions, the more different types of fungi you will find!
 * 6) Also, make sure you are able to collect data because it makes it much easier for data collecting purposes and it also makes it easier when identifying your data.

**__Conclusion:__**

 * In conclusion, we were only able to find two different types of fungi growing in the specific areas that we chose. The reason that we only found two different types was that these two species of fungi grow year round as opposed to most other types, which only grow during certain parts of the year. We were able to identify these two species of fungi as Smoky Bracket Fungi and Bleeding Broadleaf Crust Fungi. Their only similarity is that they both grow on different parts of a tree; other than that, they are both completely different. In regard to our hypothesis: we were correct in thinking that there would be varied species of fungi in our area; however, we did not find a plethora of different species, which is what we were expecting.



__Bibliography:__

 * Fenwick, David. “Bracket Fungi and Other Related Fungi.” __A Photo Fungi of the Devon__ __and Cornwall Peninsula.__ 1 Jan. 2008.  (viewed May 31, 2008).
 * We were able to use this website to use pictures to help identify the specific types of fungi that we found in Flat Rock Brook. The picture galleries have close up pictures of different types of fungi and were extremely helpful.


 * Flat Rock Brook Nature Center. “In the Park.” __Flat__ __Rock Brook Nature Center____.__ 2007.  (viewed May 31, 2008).
 * This website was mainly used to find background information on Flat Rock Brook. We also relied heavily on the park rangers that were actually at Flat Rock during many, if not all of our visits. They were able to give us vital information that helped us answer many of the questions proposed throughout this project.


 * Harten, Chrissie. “Garden Diary 2001.” __A Flower Arranger’s Garden.__ 1 Apr. 2006.  (viewed May 31, 2008)
 * This site was used to find pictures to compare with the fungi that we found; it was also used to see the effects that the specific fungi we found has on living things, in this case, flowers.


 * Morrisey, R. “Archive Images – January 2007.” __LBNature: A website about nature and__ __wildlife in and around Leighton Buzzard and__ __Linslade__. Sept. 2007. <[|http://www.LBNature.co.uk]> (viewed May 30, 2008).
 * This website was also used to find different pictures to help us identify our fungi. In order to be as thorough as possible, we decided that it would be a good idea to find a few good websites to make sure that we were correct in our data collection


 * Tree Trees "Tree Fungi Index" __Tree Trees__. [|http://www.treetrees.com/tree_fungi_gallery.htm (viewed May 30, 2008)
 *  This website had a large amount of information on fungi and helped us identify the different types of fungi that we found on each tree.