Project:

The DNA Barcoding of the Aedes atlanticus and Aedes tormentor for species identification

Students:

Jason Cohen, Richard Higgins, Lucas Lin

School:

West Babylon Senior High School, Suffolk

Mentors:

Andrea Durbin

Abstract:

Tracking mosquito populations can be difficult, but important for figuring out what diseases they carry and following their location. Mosquito populations are generally tracked using non lethal traps and assessing which ones arrive (Elitsa,2023,June 2nd). Mosquito populations have increased by tenfold in the past five decades (UC Santa Cruz News, n.d.) The two different types of mosquitoes on Long island that we are investigating are Aedes atlanticus and Aedes tormentor. These two species are almost identical at their adult stages (ScienceDirect Topics. n.d.-a). This makes it very hard to properly track them. We will be distinguishing these two mosquito species using their DNA barcode.

Poster:

Team samples: