Barcode Long Island Team SeaGrass Savers
Program:
Barcode Long Island
Year:
2018-19
Research Topic:
Wildlife & health
Taxonomic Group Studied:
Multiple - enter below

Project:

Marine Fish Biodiversity in Native Eelgrass beds compared with Restored Beds
Students:
School:
Connetquot High School, Suffolk
Mentors:
John Halloran

Abstract:

Seagrass ecosystems are among the most biodiverse environments in the world. Human interference like dredging and pollution has many seagrass beds. Efforts have been made to restore eelgrass, the common seagrass species around Long Island, due to its ability to make the water cleaner, with hopes of bringing back some of the lost local biodiversity. Environmental DNA is an effective way of tracking some of this biodiversity. The goal of this experiment is to examine the effects of eelgrass beds on the biodiversity of marine life in the Moriches Bay. Locations include an area without eelgrass beds, a recently restored eelgrass bed, and an area with eelgrass beds that have been thriving for a long time. After taking water samples at each location, the samples will be filtered, and the eDNA will be extracted and amplified using a universal fish primer. The DNA will then be sequenced and analyzed. The recordings of the environment and the DNA sequences will be used to look for correlations

Poster:

Team samples: