Project:

Biodiversity of Millipedes in Central Park

Students:

Cecilia McCarthy, Daisy O'Grady

School:

Marymount School of NY, Manhattan

Mentors:

Anne Kloimwieder

Abstract:

Millipedes of several species will be collected from majority shaded or sunny leaf litter in Central Park to determine biodiversity in each of the microenvironments. We will collect the invertebrates from these leaves and put them into ethanol in order to preserve their DNA. We will then use the chelex method to isolate the DNA from these invertebrates and follow a series of steps in order to amplify the DNA. After the amplification of the DNA is confirmed through gel electrophoresis, we will send our PCR to GENEWIZ for sequencing and later use these results to identify the different species of millipedes. Since millipedes require a moist habitat, and sunlight dries out the environment, we hypothesize that less sun exposure in an area will lead to greater biodiversity of millipede species within this region.

Poster:

Team samples: