Tommy, I think that your experimental goal could be a bit more defined. You gave a ton of great background information, but I was left a little unsure of how it connected back to your experiment. Also, do you have any hypotheses you could add for what you expect to see in respect to the germination rates?

Kim, overall your materials and methods sounds pretty good. I would just say that there are some details that aren't needed. For example, you mentioned labeling plates and tiliting the plate to collect spores. I'm being nitpicky though, and in general it looks good.

Andy, I think for your materials and methods you may be going into too much detail. For example, it's not really necessary to describe the method of flaming the loop since it's considered common knowledge among people in this field. Also, just as a general style thing, we try to avoid using "I" in scientific writing.

Emily, I think that you have a very strong intro with a lot of good information. But for me, the lead into your experimental question was a bit confusing. I think that it may be good to state your question and goal in more plain terms so as to make it really clear what the paper is focusing on.