Barcode Long Island Team SWR Macroinvertebrates
Program:
Barcode Long Island
Year:
2019-20
Research Topic:
Wildlife
Taxonomic Group Studied:
Animals: Invertebrate

Project:

A Survey of the Macroinvertebrate Population in a Freshwater Pond Following an Environmental Disturbance
Students:
Sara Louser, Claire Wing, Tesia Roth, Lauren Halloran
School:
Shoreham Wading River High School, Suffolk
Mentors:
Dana Schaefer

Abstract:

Aquatic macroinvertebrates are small organisms that have no internal skeletal system, and live in streams, rivers, and ponds (Agouridis 2015). They are often referred to as “benthos” because they live on, in or near the bottom of these ponds, etc. These species are known as bioindicators, providing information about the health of the whole ecosystem (Kripa 2013). The goal of this experiment is to compare the organisms collected presently to those collected from last year’s sampling of the healthy pond, to determine whether the pond has returned to its normal and healthy state, as the pond has recently undergone a major runoff event following a water main break on campus. Samples of macroinvertebrates will be collected, identified by physical characteristics, and then barcoded using the Barcode LI protocol.

Poster:

Team samples: