Exploring the Effects of Access to Light on Fungal Growth

Abstract

This study was conducted to explore the relationship between fungal growth and access to light. The relationship was explored by finding fungal populations on UBC campus and measuring the population’s number of individuals and distance from an obvious clearing. It was thought that the further from a clearing a population was, the less access to light it would have. Previous research has shown that some fungal species exhibit decreased growth in response to light, and some species’ growth is unaffected by access to light. It was hypothesized that if distance from a clearing does increase the number of fungal individuals that grow in an area, then there would be significantly more fungal individuals found at further distances from a clearing. Data was divided into four groups based on distance to the nearest clearing, and statistical analysis was conducted on the data to test the hypothesis. The results of this study were that there was no significant difference between the number of fungal individuals in each group, and it can be concluded that distance from a clearing did not influence the number of fungal individuals found in this research.