DNA barcoding Brooklyn (New York): A first assessment of biodiversity in Marine Park by citizen scientists

Marizzi, Christine, Florio, Antonia, Lee, Melissa, Khalfan, Mohammed, Ghiban, Cornel, Nash, Bruce, Dorey, Jenna, McKenzie, Sean, Mazza, Christine, Cellini, Fabiana, Baria, Carlo, Bepat, Ron, Cosentino, Lena, Dvorak, Alexander, Gacevic, Amina, Guzman-Moumtzis, Cristina, Heller, Francesca, Holt, Nicholas Alexander, Horenstein, Jeffrey, Joralemon, Vincent, Kaur, Manveer, Kaur, Tanveer, Khan, Armani, Kuppan, Jessica, Laverty, Scott, Lock, Camila, Pena, Marianne, Petrychyn, Ilona, Puthenkalam, Indu, Ram, Daval, Ramos, Arlene, Scoca, Noelle, Sin, Rachel, Gonzalez, Izabel, Thakur, Akansha, Usmanov, Husan, Han, Karen, Wu, Andy, Zhu, Tiger, Micklos, David Andrew (July 2018) DNA barcoding Brooklyn (New York): A first assessment of biodiversity in Marine Park by citizen scientists. PLoS One, 13 (7). e0199015. ISSN 1932-6203 (Public Dataset)

[thumbnail of DNA barcoding Brooklyn (New York) A first assessment of biodiversity in Marine Park by citizen scientists.pdf] PDF
DNA barcoding Brooklyn (New York) A first assessment of biodiversity in Marine Park by citizen scientists.pdf
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (9MB)

Abstract

DNA barcoding is both an important research and science education tool. The technique allows for quick and accurate species identification using only minimal amounts of tissue samples taken from any organism at any developmental phase. DNA barcoding has many practical applications including furthering the study of taxonomy and monitoring biodiversity. In addition to these uses, DNA barcoding is a powerful tool to empower, engage, and educate students in the scientific method while conducting productive and creative research. The study presented here provides the first assessment of Marine Park (Brooklyn, New York, USA) biodiversity using DNA barcoding. New York City citizen scientists (high school students and their teachers) were trained to identify species using DNA barcoding during a two-week long institute. By performing NCBI GenBank BLAST searches, students taxonomically identified 187 samples (1 fungus, 70 animals and 116 plants) and also published 12 novel DNA barcodes on GenBank. Students also identified 7 ant species and demonstrated the potential of DNA barcoding for identification of this especially diverse group when coupled with traditional taxonomy using morphology. Here we outline how DNA barcoding allows citizen scientists to make preliminary taxonomic identifications and contribute to modern biodiversity research.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: organism description > plant
CSHL Authors:
SWORD Depositor: CSHL Elements
Depositing User: CSHL Elements
Date: 18 July 2018
Date Deposited: 29 Jun 2022 16:35
Last Modified: 29 Jun 2022 16:35
PMCID: PMC6051577
Dataset ID:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/40667

Actions (login required)

Administrator's edit/view item Administrator's edit/view item