Project:

Barcoding Macroinvertebrates from the Peconic

Students:

John Sammartino, Brody Timoney, John Sawicki, Vincent Milano

School:

Eastport South Manor Junior-Senior High School, Suffolk

Mentors:

Robert Bolen

Abstract:

We are barcoding Macroinvertebrates to measure the biodiversity of the Peconic River. DNA barcoding is a way of comparing genes to identify species in a lab. We will extract the CO1 gene from a macroinvertebrate. We will DNA barcode to measure the biodiversity of macroinvertebrates in the Peconic river estuary. The interesting part about this barcoding project is that the Peconic river is local to us and our school has been documenting biodiversity since 2017. This information can be used to monitor the stability of a local river. The stability of the river relies on a high level of biodiversity - the less diverse the river is, the less stable it is.

Poster:

Team samples: