First it was development runoff. Then it was algae triggered by global warming. Now UC Davis researchers have seized on a new explanation for the continued dinginess of Lake Tahoe’s blue waters — tiny invasive shrimp.
Schladow acknowledges that claims about the shrimp’s impact were based on preliminary reviews of data collected midway through an ongoing study at Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay. The study ends in May. “This could be a promising new strategy,” she said. “And we look forward to the peer- reviewed science on this project when it is complete. But it is not yet complete.”
That kind of talk has earned Schladow, a civil and hydraulic engineer, a reputation for being an edgy, headstrong administrator who sometimes leaves supporters wondering about his “big ideas.” It all started, he said, in the 1960s, when California wildlife authorities introduced the non-native shrimpThe dime-sized shrimp would migrate down to the depths of the lake to avoid light during the day, then rise to the surface at night where they consume native zooplankton — the trout’s natural food source.largely disappeared from the aquatic ecosystem.
The researchers theorize that’s because the native zooplankton are prone to ingest small particles, then either use them to fulfill critical nutritional needs or excrete them as fecal pellets. In Lake Tahoe, the small particles they eat include the single-celled algaeThe preliminary findings raised a fascinating possibility.
But how many trawlers would be needed to ply the lake, in the darkness of night, to significantly knock back the mysis populations? Schladow said those details are still being worked out.
What in tarnation
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