In any given ecosystem, there are organisms working mutually to survive and thrive.  One of the most important types of organisms in the forest ecosystem is fungi, in all its various forms.  It carries out the decomposition of decaying materials, and helps colonizeplant roots into the soil.  Without these small helpers, the soil and the whole ecosystem would not work to its maximum efficiency.  In order for the fungi to do their job, a number of nutrients is needed within the soil so that the fungi can carry out its functions accordingly.  Fungi and bacteria function through a process called anaerobiosis, which is cellular respiration without molecular oxygen.  Because there is no oxygen, the fungi needs nutrients such as chloride, magnesium, sulfate, and many others to be able to work efficiently in doing the various jobs that they have in the ecosystem.  However, in one of the microclimates that was studied, the yeast population was extremely high and the sulfate levels were abnormally low.

Yeast is a form of fungi that puts itself into a chemical barrier to protect the cell membrane when it is in an uncomfortable environment and does not feel able to develop into mold and survive.  It is very abnormal to see a large number of this uncomfortable organism, especially in a place lacking a key nutrirent for the fungi to survive, much less survive enough to want to stay in its protected state.  Our hypothesis is that we happened to study the microclimate when the sulfate had been used almost to the fullest by a type of yeast that was able to thrive in the yeast state, and if it is correct, we will observe a high number in the yeast to mold ratio (favoring the yeast) when sulfate is added to the soil.  We will take you through how to conduct an experiment in order to test our hypothesis and the important things you should know during and after the testing.