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Introduction

         Fungi are microscopic cells in soil particles and roots that perform important duties related to water movement and nutrients in the soil (Ingham, 2012). Common fungi are decomposers that rely on dead organic matter for nutrients. Fungi are at their peak in mold form, which can be visible mushroom-like blooms that occur on or around decaying organisms. When the fungi are in an inadequate environment, such as those with low moisture levels, they revert back to their yeast form. The yeast form is the smaller, more condensed appearance of fungi.

          There is a specific type of fungi called xerophilic fungi, which means “dry-loving,” and they reproduce rapidly in dry soil. Xerophilic fungi are able to grow in dry environments at or below a water activity of 0.85 (Petterson, 2011). Xerophilic fungi are able to reproduce rapidly in these dry environments because they can metabolically increase the amount of dissolved solids in their cells at will when exposed to a highly concentrated solution of dissolved solids. They have a built in water preservation mechanism which allows them to survive and thrive in dry environments (Quinn and Fogel, 99).

                  During the 2016 Biota Survey, four different Microclimates were surveyed and we discovered unusually high numbers of fungi in the presence of almost no water in Microclimate 2. Microclimate 2 is located on a steep hillside in the middle of the woods, making the slope a key contributing factor to the amount of water absorbed into the soil. Due to the amount of runoff, this causes Microclimate 2 to be the dryest environment surveyed. Despite its dry conditions, the most fungi found, specifically in yeast form, were in Microclimate 2.  Therefore, we hypothesized that the fungi found in Microclimate 2 are Xerophilic fungi.