Project:

Human impact on Ant Biodiversity by Means of deforestation.

Students:

Alex Biondi, Severino Roderick

School:

Connetquot HS, Suffolk

Mentors:

John Halloran

Abstract:

Human impact has a great effect on the wildlife that inhabit a diverse range of areas. The way humans modify natural habitats can alter the biodiversity, or amount of different species that live in an area. This study will explore the biodiversity of ant species in two different locations. One being a Pitch Pine Oak Forest, protected from human use, the other, an open soccer field at Connetquot High School which is maintained by humans. The ants will be lured and collected using tuna and honey traps.2,3 The motive for this research project is to determine how human activities can affect the biodiversity of an area. In order to positively determine the species of ant collected, DNA will be extracted using the chelex protocol provided by Barcode Long Island. Invertebrate and ant specific primers will be used to amplify the COI gene, a barcode region universally used to identify invertebrates. The sequence will be analyzed using the Blue line of the DNA subway to align to sequences in the

Poster:

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