Comparing the Ecosystem Health of the Patuxent and Choptank River from the menhaden gut

Undergraduate #78
Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Ecology

Marcus Hughes - University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Co-Author(s): Dr. Chigbu and Dr. Stevens, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

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Atlantic menhaden are prominent because these species are filter feeders, and play an economic and ecological significance. One matter that is happening with the menhaden is that these species tend to be overfished by large fisheries, therefore this could lead to a rise of plankton and a decrease of top predators that depend on menhaden. The focus of my research is to compare the ecosystem health between the Choptank and Patuxent River from the menhaden gut. One of these issues that is happening between the Choptank and Patuxent River is the increase in pollution. The cause is either by urbanization or ruminant fecal run off into the watersheds. Hence, I collected 20 archived juvenile menhaden samples from the Choptank and Patuxent River, and used two molecular biology techniques which are PCR and qPCR to validate the menhaden. The meaning of my research is to see if there is any presence of bacteriodales found within the menhaden. Bacteriodales, is a fecal bacteria that can be found in feces of humans and animals. Eventually, I was able to determine that my generic bacteriodales primers were able to amplify from my menhaden gut samples. I would like to challenge myself by continuing my research to work with the human and livestock primers.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): Dr. Paulinus Chigbu and Dr. Bradley Stevens

Faculty Advisor: Paulinus Chigbu,