Project:

Snail Biodiversity in Central Park and Black Rock Forest

Students:

Caroline Schell, Bella Shao, Sophie Liang

School:

The Spence School, Manhattan

Mentors:

Aruna Chavali

Abstract:

This experiment aims to analyze the biodiversity of the freshwater snail populations in both Central Park and Black Rock forest, by collecting DNA samples from freshwater snails found in both environments, and analyzing the DNA in order to determine the diversity of samples collected. Through our analyses, we hope to gain an understanding of the effect of pollution on freshwater snail biodiversity, as well as use the freshwater snail population as an indicator of high levels of pollutants in a given body of water.

Poster:

Team samples: