1. Biodiversity in a Nitrogen Loaded Bay System
Authors: Jeremiah Cochran 1, Arjun Gupta 1, Maya Hult 1, Victoria Strickland 1
Mentor: Cody Onufrock 1,2
Long Beach High School 1, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s DNA Learning Center 2
Tables & Figures
Rationale
Biodiversity is important because it provides stability in ecosystems
Increased biodiversity means increased crop production and nutritional diversity
Large range of life has more potential for scientific discoveries
Potential in biomimicry- design or production of materials/ structures based on different species
Benthic organisms are important in decomposing and also provide productivity in the ecosystem
Documenting biodiversity will help us see how the type of life changes throughout species
Introduction
Salt marshes are vital ecosystems that provide a habitat for a large variety of life
They are essential in Carbon sequestration
They act as a natural barrier against storm surges and filter out water pollution.
Over the past 6 months, we have attempted to survey the biodiversity in a pipe that connects Reynold’s channel and a small intertidal pool.
We have found numerous benthic organisms, as well as algae.
This environment is very unique, due to the presence of a concrete pipe with large amounts of calcium.
The calcium creates a very basic area which usually very good for benthos with shells.
There are large amounts of nitrates and nitrites in Reynold’s channel, due to deposits from a sewage treatment plant.
Benthic components, which are affected by nitrates, are very important to the ecosystem because they play a major role in the food web. (Covich, et al. 1999)
They increase the rates of recycling of macronutrients, such as nitrogen. (Covich, et al. 1999).
Results
16 Samples were collected
Found a calico crab, a worm like organisms and various types of algae, coral and amphipods
2 samples of algae were successfully barcoded and were found to be the order Ulvales
1 sample was found to be Notophyllum crypticum but there were 27 mismatches
Other than the samples, hundreds of amphipods were found on rocks and shells
Coral was reddish-brown in color and was wide and stocky
Discussion
Our results show that the organisms we found are typical to aquatic communities
Amphipods are the decomposers in this ecosystem, and are key part of the food chain
Our species richness is average compared to other environments, with an excess of amphipods
Further analysis is needed to obtain a better understanding of the channel and pool
Further Research
In the future, we hope to use DNA barcoding in order to find more organisms that live in the benthic ecosystem as well as compare the organisms found to those in other bay systems
Locate other areas in the bay where species richness can be taken and compared
Use DNA barcoding to find which bacteria are helping the decomposition rates of the benthic ecosystem
Acknowledgements
Mr. Onufrock for informing us about this project
Mrs. Bragino and Ms. Silverman for letting us miss their classes multiple times for this project
Cold Spring Harbor DNA Learning Center for providing this opportunity