Barcode Long Island Team Let it Bee-tle
Program:
Barcode Long Island
Year:
2018-19
Research Topic:
Wildlife & health
Taxonomic Group Studied:
Animals: Invertebrate

Project:

The Effects of Industrial Outdoor Lighting on the Attraction of Beetles
Students:
John Sforza, Brendan Rogalle, Kevin Wilk
School:
Connetquot High School, Suffolk
Mentors:
John Halloran

Abstract:

The goal of our project is observe how different kinds of light around our school (Connetquot High School) attract different amounts of beetles. We will be making Light traps and placing them on the lights in the school parking lot, football stadium, and in a dark area behind the stadium as a control. Our main target of beetle are tree eating beetles that are infesting the forests at Connetquot state park. We will use these light traps to determine the amount of beetles and different types of beetles that are attracted to each kind of light. Once the beetles are captured we will use a dissecting microscope to take pictures of the specimens. We will then extract DNA and run it through PCR using primers to amplify the desired DNA. The DNA will then be sequenced and barcoded.

Poster:

Team samples: