Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Diaz Almeyda, Erika

Area of Concentration

Biology

Abstract

The Tabby House Ruins are located at the Desoto National Memorial within Shaw’s Point Archeological District in Bradenton, Florida. This research study is a continuation of the Integrated Heritage Pilot Project conducted in 2021. DNA extraction and analysis were the goals of continued research to prevent the loss of microbial heritage. The loss of access to the Tabby House Ruins is predicted to occur due to rising sea levels by 2040. 29 total samples were collected across two non-consecutive days in 2021 of both surface soil, soil cores, and tabby. Each sample was categorized by either soil or tabby, exposed versus buried. This delineation between each category ensures a multidimensional assessment of relative closeness as samples can be correlated in turn with ANOVA testing between microbial taxa. Two QIAGEN DNeasy® PowerSoil® kits were used to extract DNA before being sent to be processed by Molecular Research LP (MR DNA). Decontamination of control samples' taxonomic information was done prior to categorization. Although taxonomic data were provided by MR DNA from subsets of prokarya only the bacterial subset will be examined during this research study. The three primary research questions are: (i) Do we observe more photosynthetic taxa in tabby exposed to light; (ii) do we find higher biodiversity in soil or exposed tabby or buried tabby; (iii) since this is projected to be underwater, if there are there concerning taxa - can tabby become a reservoir for unwanted taxa. If so, then which abundant taxa may lead to algal blooms. The results of this study observed that there indeed are abundant taxa and a significant association between buried soil and exposed tabby. Of which, there are abundant Families and Genera of bacteria with the pathogenic potential to harm human life and marine ecosystems with the likelihood to cause harmful algal blooms (HAB) and lead to coral death.

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