Tahoe Environmental Research Center
The UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) is a non-profit research and education center located in North Lake Tahoe. TERC's two facilities are the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences in Incline Village, Nevada and the Tahoe City Field Station in Tahoe City, California.[1]
The UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center focuses on interdisciplinary research and education to advance the knowledge of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and their interactions within natural and developed Earth systems, and to communicate science-informed solutions worldwide.[2]
History
Physicist John LeConte became the first acting president of the University of California in 1868, and shortly thereafter began taking scientific measurements at Lake Tahoe. He was also the first to take clarity measurements, allegedly using his wife's dinner plate as a Secchi disk.[3]
In 1958, Dr. Charles R. Goldman of UC Davis began taking measurements at Lake Tahoe, contributing to social and policy changes to improve lake clarity. In the late 1960s, Goldman founded the “Tahoe Research Group,” a precursor to TERC, and began consistently taking clarity measurements and ecological measurements regularly starting in 1968.[4][5]
In 2004, UC Davis launched TERC as a campus-wide center, and Dr. Geoffrey Schladow became the founding director. This change in leadership coincided with the construction of the LEED-platinum Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences facility on the Sierra Nevada University (SNU) campus, which was completed in 2006.[6]
Facilities
Tahoe City Field Station
The Tahoe City Field Station site was once home to a California Department of Fish and Wildlife fish hatchery which was used to raise various species of recreational game fish. The field station is still sometimes referred to as the “Historic Fish Hatchery.”
The hatchery was built in 1921 and was operational until the 1950s. Over this period, several non-native species were introduced, including Lahontan cutthroat trout, lake trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, eastern brook trout, and Kokanee Salmon. Some of these species have outcompeted and/or preyed upon the seven native species of fish originally found in Lake Tahoe.
John Steinbeck once worked at the Tahoe fish hatchery and wrote his first novel Cup of Gold while working there.[7][8]
In 1975 California Fish and Game rented the no longer functioning fish hatchery building to the UC Davis Tahoe Research Group and eventually sold the building to UC Davis for $1. In 2008, TERC raised funding and oversaw a $2.1 million renovation of the historic building, including installing an interactive educational exhibit space.[8][9]
The facility now houses TERC's field research instruments and serves as a hub for the TERC field research team. Most field projects are run out of the Tahoe City Field Station, including all boat operations, and a forest genetics and restoration project that uses a lath house in the Demonstration Garden.[10]
Eriksson Education Center and Demonstration Garden
The Eriksson Education Center is located within the Tahoe City Field Station and features a family-friendly touchscreen exhibit with short videos and games focused on native and non-native fish, the timeline of aquatic activity in Lake Tahoe, and the history of the Tahoe City Field Station. A three-acre demonstration garden surrounds the Tahoe City Field Station and showcases native plants, best management practices, wetland restoration, and phenology.[11]
Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences
The Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences (TCES) was completed in 2006 and was the first LEED platinum-rated laboratory in the state of Nevada. The building is situated on the campus of Sierra Nevada University (SNU) and the collaborative project now serves both institutions. The first floor of the building houses the UC Davis Tahoe Science Center (TSC) and the third floor is home to TERC administrative offices and laboratories, where samples of Lake Tahoe are processed and analyzed.[12]
Tahoe Science Center and Demonstration Garden
The Tahoe Science Center is an interactive science museum featuring exhibits that translate environmental research into accessible, understandable exhibits. The exhibits featured at the Tahoe Science Center include a scaled model of the Research Vessel John LeConte, a model ecology laboratory, a series of hands-on activities, information on the platinum LEED features of the building, Tahoe's plastic problem, tree identification, and forest health. The adjacent North Tahoe Demonstration Garden features lake-friendly gardening practices and interpretive signs.[13] [14]
Research
TERC's researchers are responsible for much of the guiding environmental data known about Lake Tahoe. The research team studies the limnology, chemistry, forest ecology, and aquatic biology of the lake and its basin to take a holistic view of all the intersecting impacts that affect Lake Tahoe's health.[15][16]
Throughout the year clarity, particulate pollution, dissolved oxygen, UV/PAR, light (blueness), and nutrient concentrations are measured.[17]
Lake Tahoe Research
UC Davis research at Lake Tahoe summarizes how natural variability, long-term change, and human activity have affected the lake's clarity, physics, chemistry, and biology. Research projects include nutrients and cycling, lake mixing, lake currents, internal waves, upwelling, periphyton biomass modeling, and metaphyton. The long-term data set collected on the Lake Tahoe freshwater ecosystem by UC Davis since 1968 and its research collaborators provide a tool for understanding ecosystem function and change over time.[18]
Nearshore Monitoring
The Lake Tahoe Nearshore Evaluation and Monitoring Framework, a project funded during Round 10 of the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act in 2010, was prepared for the USDA Forest Service by more than a dozen scientists and technical advisors from the Desert Research Institute, the University of Nevada, Reno and the University of California, Davis - Tahoe Environmental Research Center to develop a comprehensive approach for assessing and managing the nearshore ecology and aesthetics of Lake Tahoe. In 2014, UC Davis TERC established a network of water quality monitoring stations at the perimeter of Lake Tahoe to improve understanding of water quality variability in the nearshore zone.[19]
Weather and Climate Change
Meteorological conditions such as air temperature, wind speed, and solar radiation affect physical lake processes including depth of mixing and currents within the lake. This information is critical for water quality modeling. Analyses of long-term air and lake temperature data are providing evidence of global climate change and warming in the Tahoe Basin. Climate change at Lake Tahoe is evident in long-term trends, which show rising air temperatures and less precipitation falling as snow.[20]
Modeling
Numerical modeling (using mathematical equations to simulate physical processes) provides scientists and resource managers with a tool to evaluate expected changes in water quality based on restoration and lake management approaches. TERC scientists have developed the Lake Clarity Model, a cornerstone of the TMDL Science Plan, that has predicted required pollutant loads necessary to meet water quality standards and Basin thresholds. The UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) has developed sophisticated computer models that help scientists predict and understand how Lake Tahoe's water moves and how the entire ecosystem behaves. Dynamic Lake Model with Water Quality (DLM-WQ) includes a physical process-based one-dimensional hydrodynamic model and newly developed sub-modules to simulate turbulent diffusion transfer, fine particle dynamics, dissolved oxygen, phytoplankton, zooplankton, nutrients (species of nitrogen and phosphorus), and Secchi depth.[21]
Microplastics Research
In 2018, a pilot project through UC Davis TERC discovered microplastics in samples taken on the beaches and in the water at Lake Tahoe. These preliminary data spurred the TERC team to further their research into the presence of microplastics encompassing the entire Lake Tahoe Basin. This project began in 2020 and was coupled with a collaborative education and outreach program to reduce plastic pollution in the basin.[22] [23] [24] [25]
Biological Research
Aquatic biological measurements of the lake include the number of invasive species such as the Mysis shrimp, Asian clam, and Eurasian watermilfoil, as well as biomass of algae such as Periphyton and Metaphyton. These studies help scientists and policymakers understand the impacts of non-native species that have been introduced either intentionally, such as the Mysis shrimp, or unintentionally, such as the Asian clam.[26]
In 2011, a TERC study found that in the absence of Mysis in Emerald Bay, the native zooplankton Daphnia returned, and clarity in Emerald Bay doubled. In the years that followed, Mysis returned and Daphnia diminished as did the clarity. This led to a study started in 2018 assessing the feasibility of removing the shrimp from the lake to improve clarity. In 2020, UC Davis TERC partnered with the UC Davis Graduate School of Management to pilot a way to commercialize the Mysis shrimp, if they were removed in large quantities.[27]
The majority of data gathered by UC Davis TERC is compiled into the annual State of the Lake Report and is used to inform policy and future research.[28]
Forest Research
The Forest and Conservation Lab studies the impacts of improper forest management practices such as fire suppression and clearcutting on the health of Lake Tahoe. The team aims to improve the health and resiliency of Tahoe's forests through assisted regeneration using seedlings from trees that have survived disturbances such as wildfire, beetle infestation, and other threats.[29]
Global Research
While Lake Tahoe is unique, the forces and processes that shape it are the same as those acting in all-natural ecosystems. As such, Lake Tahoe is an analog for other systems both in the western United States and worldwide. UC Davis TERC has participated in multiple related research projects around the world including Global Lakes Temperature Change, Arctic Ice Shelf, Antarctic Research, and Floating Photovoltaics. The group has also worked in other lakes around the world including Yosemite Valley, Lake Tanganyika, Pyramid Lake, Lake Como, Lake Ohau, Lake Panguipulli, Chile, Salton Sea, Clear Lake, Castle Lake, and various small lakes in the Sierra Nevada.[30]
Education and Outreach
The education team at the Tahoe Environmental Research Center provides science-based educational programs.[31]
References
- ↑ "UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center". Go Tahoe North.
- ↑ Toy, Alison (September 18, 2018). "About TERC". Tahoe Environmental Research Center.
- ↑ http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/le-conte-john.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ↑ "Charles R. Goldman". Island Press.
- ↑ WebDev, I. E. T. (March 18, 1993). "Lake Ecologist Receives Distinguished Public Service Award". UC Davis.
- ↑ "Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences | U.S. Green Building Council".
- ↑ "UC Davis Eriksson Education Center at the Historic Fish Hatchery | Sierra Nevada Geotourism". sierranevadageotourism.org.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Cobourn, Heather Segale and John. "Renovation of Old Fish Hatchery planned". www.tahoedailytribune.com.
- ↑ Magin, Kyle. "Historic Tahoe City fish hatchery secures the funds needed to open after a year delay". www.sierrasun.com.
- ↑ "Los Angeles Times". enewspaper.latimes.com.
- ↑ Center, UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research. "Tahoe Science Logbook: What is TERC?". www.tahoedailytribune.com.
- ↑ "Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences | U.S. Green Building Council".
- ↑ Neuffer, Cheyanne. "Virtual gardening workshop focuses on high-elevation growing". www.tahoedailytribune.com.
- ↑ https://tahoercd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/LandscapingGuide.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ↑ Lind, Brandon M.; North, Malcolm P.; Maloney, Patricia E.; Eckert, Andrew J. (July 20, 2019). "Effect of fire and thinning on fine-scale genetic structure and gene flow in fire-suppressed populations of sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana Dougl.)". Forest Ecology and Management. 447: 115–129. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2019.04.033 – via www.fs.fed.us.
- ↑ Wang, Menghua; Shi, Wei; Watanabe, Shohei (July 1, 2020). "Satellite-measured water properties in high altitude Lake Tahoe". Water Research. 178: 115839. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2020.115839. PMID 32353611 Check
|pmid=value (help) – via www.sciencedirect.com. - ↑ Jepsen, S.M.; Harmon, T.C.; Sadro, S.; Reid, B.; Chandra, S. (March 15, 2019). "Water residence time (age) and flow path exert synchronous effects on annual characteristics of dissolved organic carbon in terrestrial runoff". Science of the Total Environment. 656: 1223–1237. Bibcode:2019ScTEn.656.1223J. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.392. PMID 30625653 – via www.sciencedirect.com.
- ↑ Murphy, Dennis (2000). "Lake Tahoe Watershed Assessment" (PDF). fs.fed.us.
- ↑ Atkins, Karen S.; Hackley, Scott H.; Allen, Brant C.; Watanabe, Shohei; Reuter, John E.; Schladow, S. Geoffrey (May 1, 2021). "Variability in periphyton community and biomass over 37 years in Lake Tahoe (CA-NV)". Hydrobiologia. 848 (8): 1755–1772. doi:10.1007/s10750-021-04533-w – via Springer Link.
- ↑ https://tahoe.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk4286/files/inline-files/Projected-climate-change-impacts-in-the-Tahoe-Basin--Rec_2021_Quaternary-Int.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ↑ https://tahoe.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk4286/files/inline-files/The%20setup%20and%20relaxation%20of%20spring%20upwelling%20in%20a%20deep%2C%20rotationally%20influenced%20lake.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ↑ Neuffer, Cheyanne. "Microplastic clean up, research continues at Lake Tahoe". www.tahoedailytribune.com.
- ↑ DoBroka, Eric (November 10, 2020). "UC Davis researchers study microplastics in Tahoe". KRNV.
- ↑ "Microplastics are found in Lake Tahoe's waters for first time ever". Los Angeles Times. August 26, 2019.
- ↑ "U.S. EPA awards nearly $100,000 to address microplastic pollution in Lake Tahoe". 25 August 2020.
- ↑ Romero, Ezra David. "Are Shrimp-Flavored Dog Treats The Answer To Keeping Lake Tahoe Blue?". www.capradio.org.
- ↑ "Happy Healthy Pets 2020: Dog treats in the works to help clear up Lake Tahoe". September 13, 2020.
- ↑ https://www.sacbee.com/news/article244603462.html
- ↑ "In the Sierra, scientists bet on 'survivor' trees to withstand drought and climate change". Los Angeles Times. November 18, 2019.
- ↑ "2020-21 Seed Grants for International Activities Recipients". Global Affairs. March 4, 2021.
- ↑ Tribune, Submitted to the. "Tahoe students address plastic problem; inspire change in Raley's". www.tahoedailytribune.com.
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