Project:

Ant Barcoding

Students:

Jordan Moses, Ariel Keynan

School:

Long Beach High School,

Mentors:

Cody Onufrock

Abstract:

Ants are a very diverse and unique species, and are found on all continents except for Antarctica. Only a handful of islands lack native ant species: Greenland, Iceland, parts of Polynesia, and Hawaii. In some locations, such as the Amazon rainforest, new species are found every expedition. Such a diversity is even commonplace in suburban environments, and further investigating the population of ants in one’s suburban city is vital to understand the way the ecosystem in that city works. Ants are important to human health: They are the natural sanitizers of the ecosystem, decomposing and consuming dead plants and animals, preventing diseases from the dead organisms from spreading to humans. For example, according Espace Pour La Vie Montréal, “Carpenter ants, which make their nests in dead or diseased wood, considerably accelerate the decomposition process of timber.” Such decomposers as carpenter ants are common in Long Beach, NY, the site of the study. According to Suburban Exte

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