Lab 5: Shared Characters & Phylogenies 

Students will investigate and document the diversity of fungi- and plant-based products available at a local grocery store. 

Module Objectives (MO5.1, MO5.2):

1. Describe biodiversity and phylogeny of fungi.
2. Describe biodiversity and phylogeny of plants.

Lab Objectives:

1. Recognize the diversity of plant and fungi species in food and other grocery products
2. Analyze ingredient lists to identify plant and fungi species
3. Research and define the taxonomic classification of identified species

Materials/Supplies:

• Recording materials (notebook/pencil/etc.)
• Taxonomic resources (online)
• GoogleSheets or Excel
• Local grocery store

Description: 

This lab focuses on the rich diversity of fungi and plant species found in common grocery products. The abundance of species is analyzed with respect to taxonomic classification. Exercise 1 will be completed at the grocery store, and exercise 2 and 3 will be completed at home.

Exercise 1: Grocery Exploration (expected time on task 1-2 hours)

This first lab exercise will be conducted in a local grocery store. It is suggested that you speak to the store manager prior to beginning your investigation. Explain what you will be doing and request permission. Finally, be sure to place all products back exactly as they were found (correct location, facing fronts of packages out, etc.).

1. Explore 5 different grocery store aisles. Suggested aisles are:

• Bakery/deli
• Pharmacy/health 
• Beauty/cleaning
• Chips/soda
• Candy/nuts/crackers
• Pasta/canned vegetables
• Tea/coffee
• Produce 
• Ethnic
• Baking/spices
• Cereal/juices/canned fruits

Your store may categorize and label their aisles differently than listed above. However, select a variety of aisles to explore. Some aisles will be easier than others, but you do need to select 5 different aisles.

1. Investigate a variety of products on each of your chosen aisles. Record a cumulative list of the species (fungi and plant) that you find in the labels and ingredient lists. Some tips to keep in mind while you explore: 

• Some plant/fungi names will be difficult to recognize. When in doubt, record the name. You can investigate later if it is a plant or fungi. 

• Record each species only one time per aisle.
• The goal is to gather sufficient data for analysis and comparison. 
• Expect to spend 10-15 minutes collecting data from each of your chosen aisles. This time should be sufficient to document a sufficient number of species (at least 5-10 products/items per aisle during that time). There are likely quite a few plant-based or fungi-based ingredients for each of your items, and you would need to list each of those in your table. This means you should end up with quite a few products (likely 50-100+ plant products).

Compile your data in the provided spreadsheet (worksheet 1). Be sure to note the aisle, product name, and plant/fungi name. The other spreadsheet columns will be completed in exercise 2.

To BE COMPLETED AT HOME:

Exercise 2: Taxonomic Research (expected time on task 1-2 hours)

This portion of the lab involves taxonomic research of the plants/fungi identified previously. You may investigate these using the listed resources or any others that they wish.

International Plant Names Index (IPNI) (https://www.ipni.org/)

USDA PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov/java/)

1. For each plant/fungi in the spreadsheet, search for and record the following information in the spreadsheet (worksheet 1): 

• Latin name for each species
• Family each species belongs to
• Order each species belongs to
• “Upper Taxonomic Group” of each species (i.e. algae, bryophytes, fern allies, ferns, gymnosperms, monocot angiosperms, non-monocot/dicot angiosperms, ascomycota, basidiomycota, etc.) 

Exercise 3: Diversity Analysis

To complete this study, you will analyze your data for species richness and relative abundance. 

1. Determine the species richness. To do this, count the number of species occurring in your data. Record how many species are recorded for each Upper Taxonomic Group, Order and Family.
2. Calculate the relative abundance. Count the number of occurrences for each family, order and taxonomic group. Then, calculate the percentage that this group contributes to the overall number of occurrences. For example, if there are 50 different species and 6 of those are in the same family, then the relative abundance of that family is 12% (6/50=0.12).
3. Record your numbers in the provided spreadsheet (worksheet 2).
4. Create a pie chart showing the relative abundance of each taxonomic group. Be sure that your chart includes all appropriate labels (worksheet 3). A quick tutorial for creating a pie chart in excel can be found here (https://youtu.be/fnE-Yq771nM). 
5. Briefly summarize the overall results and any conclusions that you can make based your chart. This should just be a few sentences (worksheet 3).  

To submit your lab, save your spreadsheet as a pdf file. Be sure to save the “workbook” (i.e. all of the sheets). Check to make sure all of your sheets are saved and showing in your pdf. Upload your document for grading.