Barcode Long Island Team Portledge 1
Program:
Barcode Long Island
Year:
2021-22
Research Topic:
Wildlife
Taxonomic Group Studied:
Multiple - enter below

Project:

The Relationship Between Abiotic Factors of an Ecosystem to the Ecosystem's Biodiversity
Students:
Joshua Meshechok, Lia Koundourakis, Jon Launer
School:
Portledge School, Nassau
Mentors:
Carolyn Chiu

Abstract:

This Barcode Project seeks to investigate how abiotic factors impact the biodiversity within two selected ecosystems, the woodlands, and the grassy fields. First, we will investigate and catalog the abiotic factors of each ecosystem. Then, we will use DNA barcoding to identify species that live in each respective ecosystem. Combining the two observations would allow us to assess our hypothesis that abiotic factors define the biodiversity of each habitat. DNA barcoding is an essential part of this project as it will allow us to accurately identify unique DNA sequences for each organism, even the similar-looking ones, living in two different areas with varying abiotic factors and accurately distinguish between them. Since biodiversity is important because it helps to clean and protect the environment and adds aesthetic value to it, it is helpful to understand how abiotic factors impact biodiversity.

Poster:

Team samples: