Project:

Biodiversity of Ants

Students:

Tatiana Dunston, Nooraan Faisah, Jewel Rose Miranda, Diana Castillo

School:

High School for Health Professions and Human Services, Manhattan

Mentors:

Rocheli Apilan

Abstract:

Ants are very common insects that we come across in our day to day lives. In this research, we will DNA barcode samples of ants we find in our houses to study the biodiversity of ants and to help us get a better understanding on the importance of biodiversity and how DNA barcoding works to find more methods and ways to preserve their habitat to protect them from population decrease as they are vital to our environment and biodiversity. In our study, as mentioned before, we will collect ants in our homes carefully and preserve them by freezing them until the process of DNA barcoding. We will then continue with the protocol provided to us by the DNA Learning Center Barcoding 101 which would be isolating the DNA, amplifying it by PCR, and then analyzing PCR products by gel electrophoresis. By doing this, we will be able to identify the species we found in our homes and draw conclusions about the biodiversity of the ants in our homes. Furthermore, ants are poorly studied and should be high

Poster:

Team samples: