The Effect of the Environment on the Microbiota of the Amblyomma americanum and its Implications for Human Health in Suffolk County, New York. Asma Asghar1, Farihah Chowdhury1 , Victoria Hernandez¹ William Floyd High School¹ Abstract The study of the microbiome of the Lone Star Ticks on Long Island is crucial because more than 25% of tick borne pathogen cases are found on the island (Van Nunen, 2015). The microbiomes were analyzed using QIIME analysis to synthesize taxonomy charts. From this data, it can be concluded that Indian Island has the highest species richness, followed by Manorville and then Brookhaven State Park. Samples contained primarily the following prominent phyla: Coxiella, Enterobacteria, and Rickettsiales, associated with various diseases. Introduction A microbiome is a group of microorganisms within an ecosystem or organism (Van Nunen, 2015). This is vital to study because ticks can transfer numerous pathogens to humans. Prior research indicates that the microbiota of an organism can be influenced by its location and climate (Akorli, Mathilde, Gendrin, Pels, Manu, Christophides, and Wilson, 2016). Therefore, the inferred ecosystem of Brookhaven State Park with a wooded ecosystem, Manorville with a wetland ecosystem, and Indian Island with a marine ecosystem influenced the microbiota present within the ticks samples. Brookhaven Indian Island Manorville Lab Figure 4: This is a cladogram representing ancestral lineage of pathogens present within lone star ticks collected. Figure 5: This is a taxonomy plot representing taxa present within lone star ticks collected. Discussion The data indicates that there is a relationship between the microbiota, location, and environmental differences; similar pathogens present; and that there are similar ancestral patterns present. In addition, there were similar microbes present within the samples of the ticks because there was the primary phyla were consistent throughout all sample sites, with the exception of one outlier. In Brookhaven State Park, Coxiella, Rickettsia, and Rickettsiales are the most abundant microbes. Meanwhile, Enterobacteriaceae and Acinetobacter are dominant microbes present within Indian Island. Meanwhile, Sphingomonas and Coxiella are the abundant microbes found in Manorville. Finally, taxonomic classification on a genus level was examined to demonstrate showed a relationship between the bacteria and their potential pathogens that were present . References Van Nunen, S. (2015). Tick-induced allergies: mammalian meat allergy, tick anaphylaxis and their significance. Asia Pacific Allergy, 5(1), 3. Acknowledgements The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory DNA Learning Center and it’s staff made significant contributions to the success of this project as well as Michael Santorelli of Suffolk County Department of Health Services Arthropod-Borne Disease Laboratory for providing ticks. In addition to the staff at the Cold Spring Harbor DNALC, we would like to acknowledge: Dr. Sharon Pepenella, Dr. Cristina Fernandez-Marco, Dr. Joslynn Le, Dr. Cornel Ghiban, and Dr. David Micklos. Furthermore, the faculty and administrators that vastly increased the success of this project were: Mrs. Lisa Lackemann, Dr. Donna Watkins, Mr. Philip Scotto, Ms. Lisa Pisano, Mrs. Deborah Gurney, Ms. Kathleen Keane, and Mr. Kevin Coster. The faculty and administrators from Stony Brook Science Technology Entry Program that also increased the success of this project were: Ms. Dorys Johnson, Mrs. Edwina Branch-Smith, and Dr. Christine Veloso. Methodology Results Figure 2: Distance comparison plot demonstrating taxonomic similarities Figure 1: PCoA Plot representing beta diversity Figure 3: Rarefaction Plot representing alpha diversity