Project:

Using CO1 DNA Barcoding to Assess Butterfly Biodiversity from the Long Island Aquarium

Students:

Ryan Schultz, Olaoluwa "Daniel" Somosu

School:

Eastport South Manor Junior-Senior High School, Suffolk

Mentors:

Robert Bolen

Abstract:

The project is a study of the biodiversity of butterflies from the long island aquarium. Butterflies go through 4 stages in their life cycle. After the 4 faces the butterflies will reach their final form. The motivation for this is to better understand butterfly diversity. There is limited knowledge of species diversity, and many butterfly species look physically similar due to convergent evolution (live in similar but isolated habitats and have similar adaptations). By determining the butterflies’ DNA barcoding scientists can use the information to measure biodiversity. The butterflies were provided to us by the Long Island Aquarium. We expect to identify a wide variety of species and find that some species may have been misidentified using traditional taxonomy methods. We expect to identify invasive species and possibly new DNA sequences.

Poster:

Team samples:

See all samples for project