Project:

An investigation into the effect of human traffic on aquatic macroinvertebrates in Long Island ponds

Students:

Sophie Cohen, Veronica Walkin

School:

Cold Spring Harbor High School, Suffolk

Mentors:

Jaak Raudsepp

Abstract:

Aquatic invertebrates are an indication of a thriving ecosystem, so this study will help illustrate the effect of human presence on ecosystems as a whole. We believe that the Brackish Pond at Target Rock will have more biodiversity than the Heckscher Park Pond due to isolation from human impact and pollution. We plan to collect aquatic macroinvertebrates from both locations. We will isolate their DNA to barcode these organisms and will use Sanger Sequencing to compare the species biodiversity located in both locations. This study will help us to better understand the effect of human traffic on our planet.

Poster:

Team samples: