ecosystems

The Nevada Department of Wildlife named Jennifer Newmark as Wildlife Diversity Division Administrator. The position oversees the division responsible for Nevada’s diverse wildlife heritage through the protection, management and restoration of non-game species.

Newmark has almost 16 years of experience in increasingly responsible roles working with Nevada’s wildlife. In her most recent position, Jennifer served as the Administrator of the Nevada Natural Heritage Program, an independent state agency within the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

People think of elephants, tigers and sharks as a bellwether for how the environment is doing, but monster fish, two dozen species of large freshwater fish weighing more than 200 pounds, are an alarming indicator of the health of aquatic ecosystems around the world.

“These big fish are in a steep decline,” Zeb Hogan, conservation biologist and researcher in the University of Nevada, Reno’s College of Science, said. “The disappearance of aquatic animals is a freshwater extinction crisis.”

A Scripps Institution of Oceanography-led study on how natural and man-made sources of nitrogen are recycled through the Lake Tahoe ecosystem provides new information on how global change may affect the iconic blue lake.

“High-elevation lakes, such as Lake Tahoe, are sentinels of climate change,” said Lihini Aluwihare, associate professor of geosciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. “Small changes in the lake’s chemistry can have big impacts on the entire ecosystem.”

A new National Geographic Museum exhibition, Monster Fish: In Search of the Last River Giants, features the work of the University of Nevada, Reno’s research professor and host of the television show Monster Fish, Zeb Hogan. It opens March 26 at National Geographic’s Washington, D.C. headquarters and runs through Oct. 12, 2015.

Insects are picky eaters, and not the voracious eat-everything-in-sight bingers that devour all the plants in your garden. After decades of field work from dozens of sites around the world, and after two years of combing through and analyzing data, Matt Forister, associate professor and ecologist from the University of Nevada, Reno, and an international team have reported on global patterns in the diets of insect herbivores.

This week's guest on It's Your City is Nicole Goehring, recycling coordinator for the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. She provides an update on statewide and local recycling figures and places where residents can take their items.

NevadaRecycles, a program through NDEP, is committed to reducing waste and increasing recycling opportunities. Its mission is to preserve and enhance the environment of the state in order to protect public health, sustain healthy ecosystems, and contribute to a vibrant economy. It was established in 1992.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded $150,000 to the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center to create a new, interactive public exhibit at the Tahoe Science Center, located in Incline Village. The exhibit will merge the results of citizen science with TERC’s new, real-time monitoring network that is being installed around the lake to understand and improve the clarity and health of Lake Tahoe’s shoreline.

New high definition fire cameras are scanning the mountains and shoreline, while University of Nevada, Reno researchers are discovering new animal species at the bottom of Lake Tahoe and working with colleagues at the Desert Research Institute to document the dramatic decline of other bottom dwelling species and nearshore water quality.

Managing water in northern Nevada’s Truckee-Carson River System requires local communities to balance urban, agricultural and ecosystem needs. Changes in historical climate trends are increasingly expected to make this balancing act more challenging. A competitive grant totaling $3.8 million has been awarded to the University of Nevada, Reno and the Desert Research Institute in partnership with the U.S.

An ancient forest of mature pine trees, standing upright under 100 feet of water in a small lake in the Lake Tahoe Basin, helps scientists as they study how changing climate can affect mountain environments and the communities in them. The trees, discovered and studied by a University of Nevada, Reno, researcher, are remnants of a 200-year-long medieval drought.

The site is a stop on one of the field trips of a four-day international conference on mountain observatories held at the University of Nevada, Reno July 16-19.

The allure of pine forests, majestic granite peaks and rushing rivers has always drawn mankind to mountaintops. The same intrigue drives the work of scientists around the world, many of whom will convene at the University of Nevada, Reno for a multi-day conference on social, biological and environmental systems in mountain regions, especially important as climate and land-use changes affect mountain environments and the communities in them.

An innovation in aquatic invasive species protection was unveiled last week at the Water Sports Industry Association’s 2014 Summit that could make Lake Tahoe and recreational water bodies around the nation safer from the spread of invasive species, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency said Friday.

On Friday the Carson City Downtown Business Association hosted a “No Butt Party” eco-mixer. In an effort to help clean up the cigarette butt problem in the Downtown Telegraph Square area, the DBA purchased four “Butts Only Boxes” from Ken Beckstead of Cigarette Pollution Solutions.

The Butts Only Boxes are high grade steel, built to withstand bad weather and have a metal fenced opening that prevents animals and people from retrieving the contents.

Students from Logos Christian Academy in Fallon gathered recently at the edge of the Carson River with water quality professionals for the 8th annual Snapshot Day at Ft. Churchill State Park.

Volunteers from the Bureau of Land Management, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and the River Wranglers came out to the river on October 18 to give students, grades 5 through 8, a chance to gain hands on experience with the science of river ecosystems.

From Tahoe’s mountaintops to the lake’s sandy bottom, scientists from the University of Nevada, Reno continue to study and find solutions to the breadth of issues that face the entire Lake Tahoe Basin. Their research is making a tangible contribution to the decisions, policies and practices that guide the basin’s environmental health.

An independent report released today by The National Academy of Sciences is critical of the Bureau of Land Management's oversight of free-ranging horses and burros on federal public lands in the western United States and urges changes to its current roundup policies.

The Lake Tahoe Science Consortium collaborated with University of Nevada, Reno’s Department of Art to create “Visualizing Change,” a photographic art expedition intended to convey concepts in environmental restoration at Lake Tahoe to the scientific community and general public. The exhibit is located in the Prim Desert Research Library at Sierra Nevada College at Lake Tahoe’s Incline Village. It features photography and oil painting contributions from eight noted artists and is free and open to the public through July 27.

The University of Nevada, Reno’s Sudeep Chandra, a leading Lake Tahoe scientist who has studied invasive species and limnology at the lake for 20 years, said issuing permits for commercial harvesting of crayfish at Lake Tahoe will help improve clarity at the pristine lake, as well as take away a food source for other invasive species that threaten lake clarity and ecosystems.

More than 350 scientists, environmental policy makers and economic stakeholders will discuss Lake Tahoe and its environmental and economic future at the annual Tahoe Science Conference “Environmental Restoration in a Changing Climate” May 22 to 24 at Incline Village.
The conference, this year being held at Sierra Nevada College, features a scientific poster session and the opening of “Visualizing Change, a photographic exhibition,” on Tuesday evening followed by two full days of seminars and workshops covering more than 20 topics in three main areas:

The study of climate change through Earth history has produced a wealth of information on the operation of the ocean-atmosphere system during climate transitions as well as the feedbacks that impact the magnitude and rate of climate change on the planet. A public lecture on Thursday at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences will address some of what has been found.

CARSON CITY – Supporters of a plan by the Southern Nevada Water Authority to pump more  than 125,00-acre feet of groundwater from rural areas of the state to slake the thirst of urban residents said today the project is critical to keeping the state’s economic engine running.

By Heather Segale
A lecture that explores climate change and the melting polar regions will be discussed Thursday, Sept. 15 at the Lake Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences at Incline Village.

By the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center
Members of the public will be able to visually immerse themselves in two of the best-known lakes in the United States, thanks to a $2.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to UC Davis' Tahoe Environmental Research Center.

By Mike Wolterbeek

Courtesy of GrandViewOutdoors.com
Abetted by last summer's record flooding, Asian carp are continuing their advance up the Big Sioux and other Missouri River tributaries, as researchers and wildlife officials gear up to deal with the invasion.
"They're here, so the big question is, how many are we going to get?'' said Brian Graeb, an assistant professor in South Dakota State University's wildlife and fisheries department.

Zeb Hogan swims with the fishes and lives to write about it. In the March 2011 issue of National Geographic, the University of Nevada, Reno researcher and assistant professor is pictured swimming with a man-eating catfish and describes swimming underwater with a 400-pound Mekong giant catfish in one of his many adventures in the rivers of a dozen countries around the world.

The UC Davis’s Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) in partnership with the Tahoe Expedition Academy (TEA) will host the sixth annual Science Expo on March 16.

The fair features interactive experiments and demonstrations for children from the third to sixth grade, ages 8 to 12 and their families. The event is free and will run from 4 – 6 p.m. at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences in Incline Village. Ice cream will be provided by Susie Scoops of Incline Village and UC Davis TERC.