1. Soil organisms in a grass area affected by saltwater
Madeline O’Connor and Luke Peers Mentor: Cody Onufrock
Introduction
In this project, samples were taken from two different areas, one being affected by saltwater and the other not, in order to compare species and learn if natural disasters can affect ecosystems four years later.
The samples were sequenced by DNA barcoding in order to determine which species each organism classified into. By using the Simpson’s index, organisms and their species would be compared in each environment.
There are two hypotheses being tested. The HA hypothesis is the diversity of soil will be greater in the ecosystem that is not affected by saltwater. The HO hypothesis is that there will be no difference in the soil diversity. These show that based on prior evidence we believed that saltwater would affect the diversity of the environment.
It was  thought that saltwater would be unsuitable for certain organisms to live. Saltwater would set the balance of basic or acidic off slightly. The extra salt in the environment could also contaminate drinking water and hurt organisms less prone to salt. With this prior information it was concluded that less organisms would live in the salt affected area.
Pictures
Materials & Methods
The samples were collected using a glue trap placed within six inches of a pole. This pole was in an area of grass that had been affected by Hurricane Sandy. It was left out for a couple of days before taken inside to find organisms stuck in the glue. A glue trap was also put down in an area not affected by saltwater.
A berlese funnel was made using liter jugs, hardware cloth, a mesh screen and preserving alcohol to collect our samples, however it was not successful at collecting samples.
Samples were chosen based on whether or not they could be recognized or if they were not recognized and may be a new unknown species. The species collected were fifteen different samples of differing size and structure such as number of legs, size, antennae, etc. Only ten samples were taken from the other area not affected by Hurricane Sandy although more could have been collected.
Our samples were collected over intervals of three days throughout the year. The samples that were collected had their DNA extracted. Then they were put through PCR with COI primer being used as a dye.
Tables & Figures
Results
The results of the experiment have proved inconclusive. Only one sample from gel electrophoresis worked successfully. The other samples failed and may have failed for a variety of reasons.
From research and samples going through PCR and gel electrophoresis again, the problem was narrowed the problem down to DNA extraction. This may be due to contamination or problems with the method in which results became inconclusive.
Due to observation of the organisms before DNA barcoding, more flies were found on the glue trap in the area unaffected while more ants were found in the area affected by saltwater.?
The berlese funnel also proved unsuccessful. It was made using the materials in methods. Dirt was taken from within six inches of the pole. To receive more organisms we dug down deeper and collected dirt from the deeper sections of the soil. This was because the ground was harder during the winter and organisms may have buried deeper to conserve heat. The glue trap would have been as successful at collecting soil organisms due to the organisms burying deeper into the ground for winter. When we put dirt in the berlese funnel it fell through the mesh screen and into the alcohol. Discussion
The results we received showed that organisms were in a different variety in each ecosystem
One result showed that flies were more abundant in the ecosystem without saltwater while ants were more abundant in the ecosystem with saltwater.
Our hypothesis did not  work as planned due to mistakes in DNA extraction, a bad Berlese funnel and a faulty procedure.
In the future studies, check for contamination in the DNA barcoding process before starting it. Also, make the procedure more clear if someone is to measure the amount of organisms.