Project:

Ant Diversity in Central Park

Students:

Gillian Atienza, Zoë Veltri, Megan Berdan

School:

Marymount School of NY, Manhattan

Mentors:

Anne Kloimwieder

Abstract:

Ants will be collected from under trees and damp areas along the Bridle Path within Central Park in order to allow us to analyze the biodiversity of ants in different microenvironments within Central Park. After we finish collecting our samples, we will extract DNA from the ants using chelex. We will then sequence the DNA in order to identify the different ant species.We will be able to recognize the various species of ants that live along the Bridle Path and therefore learn more about them and the biodiversity within Central Park. We hypothesize that we will find more biodiversity of ants underground in damp areas because that is where ants tend to thrive and create their colonies.

Poster:

Team samples: