Project:

Barcoding the Microbial Communities of Recirculating Water Systems

Students:

Mary Ogunwale, Kako Uemura

Institution:

Brooklyn College, Brooklyn

Mentors:

Tony Wilson

Abstract:

Shifts in environmental microbiota can directly affect health, disease susceptibility, and fecundity, which are all key factors to species conservation. The Aquatic Research and Environmental Assessment Center (AREAC) at Brooklyn College is home to seahorses and pipefish collected from Australia and New York. The animals are housed in 2 water systems, with the Australian animals housed separately from the New York animals housed in system 3. Barcoding will be used to characterize the microbial differences between the two water systems with the aim of reflecting the microbial communities present in the seahorses. This will be achieved by sampling water coming from the tanks from each system back into the filtration system. The study will be conducted over 3 days to identify any differences in the microbial communities across different days and times. The results of the study will provide information into how the environment influences the microbiome in captive systems.

Poster: