Project:

The use of DNA barcoding to show polymorphisms in Coquillettidia pertubans

Students:

Mauricsha Murray, Carolina Quinteros, Danny Echeverria, Keiry Argueta

School:

Wyandanch Memorial High School, Suffolk

Mentors:

Karl Spielmann

Abstract:

The Eastern equine encephalitis virus present in domesticated animals living in Eastern Suffolk County led to the creation of a surveillance program in the 1970’s. The Suffolk County Department of Health Services, or the SCDHS, captured mosquitos at twelve different locations to monitor the disease and identify the mosquitoes. They used the captured mosquitoes’ mode of reproduction, development, feeding, and any disease carried to classify them. An organization under the SCDHS called the Arthropod-Borne Disease Laboratory expanded the program by choosing to monitor 50 locations with the discovery of the West Nile virus. Today the Suffolk County Government has an official website that allows residents to notify them of a mosquito issue, register to not have property sprayed with mosquito control, be informed on their spraying schedule.

Poster:

Team samples: