Effect of Light Conditions on Abundance of Fungi Growth

Fungi play a vital role in the decomposition of organic matter and the transformation ofkey nutrients (Starke, 2020). Although fungi have a crucial place in ecosystem dynamics, factorswhich influence species distribution patterns are poorly understood (Tedersoo, 2014). This studyaims to better understand how light affects fungi growth in coastal temperate forests. In thisstudy, fungi growth was observed at the Botanical Garden at the University of British Columbia(UBC). Data was collected and used to calculate the mean number of fungi and average lightintensity at four different locations (North, South, East, West) from the center of Wharton Glade.It was found that the highest mean number of fungi were in the southern quadrant, which hadmedium light intensity (2100-6300 lux). This finding is contradictory to contemporary researchon this topic which identifies that fungi typically grow optimally under low light conditions(Idnurm, 2005; Simon, 2013). A potential source of error was generalizing a variation of fungispecies as “fungi”. Moreover, fungi species were counted one month prior to the measurement oflight intensity. Future research on this topic should consider the effect of other abiotic factors onfungal growth such as soil pH, moisture, temperature, and season.