Project:

Investigation of seasonal aquatic macroinvertebrates, taken to be DNA barcoded at CSHL to determine the biodiversity of Massapeq

Students:

Georgia Wu, Sage Milow, Emma Kok

School:

Massapequa High School Ames, Nassau

Mentors:

August Eberling

Abstract:

The Massapequa preserve should be a place of high biodiversity. It's essential for an ecosystem to have high biodiversity, since it permits an ecosystem to recover when it has to deal with a disturbance. The objective is to determine what species they have found in the preserve to decide if the biodiversity is still high. Macroinvertebrates were collected to determine how human activity has affected the biodiversity of Massapequa Preserve. Macroinvertebrates were collected out of the water using nets and waders to put them in the sample tubes full of 95% alcohol, so the students can then use these samples for DNA barcoding. DNA barcoding is a method where one takes a specialized gene fragment to determine the species of the macroinvertebrates. Genetic sequencing is used to determine the order of nucleotides in a DNA molecule to fully understand the genetic blueprint. After the species is discovered, a conclusion can be made about the biodiversity of the preserve.

Poster:

Team samples:

See all samples for project