Mutualism In The Lake Tahoe Basin
Lake Tahoe is one of America’s deepest, freshwater lakes. The iconic vacation spot keeps locals and tourists occupied with ski resorts and casinos. Although, there is more to the area than its breathtaking views. The Lake Tahoe Basin is home to many species that contribute to its ecology. Species interaction with biological communities and environment affect the ecosystem greatly because of species dependency of the environment and its resources. This makes it especially difficult with the Lake Tahoe Basin in crisis. The ecosystem faces low water levels, and constant threats of forest fires. The Lake Tahoe Basin is a national treasure that is cherished by many Americans, as well as supplies natural resources for many species, and should be
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protected.
Geography of the Lake Tahoe Basin
The Lake Tahoe Basin is split between the states of California and Nevada.
One-third of the basin belongs to Nevada, while the other two-thirds are located in California. The Sierra Nevada surrounds the basin in the west, while the basin is surrounded by the Carson Range to the east. The basin was made by geologic block many millions of years ago, and its terrains are surrounded by the Sierra Mountains (Gould, 2012).
During the last ice age, the glaciers contributed to the formation of the Lake’s elevation in the north, south, and the west. These glaciers formed Lake Tahoe’s Donner Lake and Emerald Lake. Other natural occurrences formed the Lake Tahoe basin such as the shift of tectonic plates, which made the Sierra Nevada and the Carson range surround the basin. The shift of the tectonic
AP BIO IMPERILED ECOSYSTEMS PROJECT 2 plates were caused by volcanic activity, which helped fill in gaps and dammed the valley. In modern day, the Sierra is getting lower. This is caused by erosion and weathering in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Research predicts that the lake will turn into a meadow in about 3, 158,400 years because of rate of the sediment filling in the lake (“History of Tahoe” 2011).
By the 19th century, the Lake Tahoe Basin became a popular vacation destination.
Although, mostly San Francisco’s elite were able to stay. By 1901, Lake Tahoe’s first tavern was established. The tavern included a casino, ballroom, and laundry. The first Tavern was founded by Walter Danforth Bliss, who later was decided to be a full time peace officer with limited policing authority. In 1904, Lake Tahoe was richly populated with residents. This started the human relationship between the environmental factors of the Lake Tahoe Basin (“History of Tahoe” 2011).
Today, there is a resource management and a land-use planning for the Lake Tahoe Basin.
This is essential to preserving the land and sustaining the ecosystem because it provides a watchful eye of the environment and how it is used between different species. Human activity increased, and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency slowed the process of urbanization, to keep a large fraction of strictly nature. To help preserve the land, the California Tahoe Conservancy was formed. This organization helped prevent threats that would harm the Lake Tahoe Basin, and made efforts to sustain its ecological integrity. Because of the Lake Tahoe Basin’s popularity within the country, great efforts were put into helping preserve the area, as well as natural resources because it was not only home and a desired residents to many humans, but are also home to many species (Manley et al. 2015).
AP BIO IMPERILED ECOSYSTEMS PROJECT 3
Biotic Relationships within the Ecosystem
Biotic relationships are the relationships of living species within an ecosystem. Biotic factors in the Lake Tahoe Basin include bacteria and different aquatic plants. The main objective of biotic organisms is that they are living organisms. The environment’s ability of keeping control of urban areas can help sustain its biotic diversity. Manley et al. (2015) claimed that the increase of the development of taxonomic groups is an attribute to the decline of the richness and abundance of species in the basin, and conducted a research in biotic diversity interfacing with urbanization in the Lake Tahoe Basin. The research conducted is important because it is useful for land use planning that sustains biodiversity within the basin.In their research, they sampled birds, mammals, and plants in about one hundred random sites in the years of 2003 and 2004. Of these species, birds were found to have a more potent response to development, especially the type of birds that were already accustomed to human interactions, such as the House Finch and the Stellar Jay. However, birds that were not familiar with interactions of others, and were less plentiful, such as the woodpecker, declined. The birds that were already used to having human interactions had an advantage, while the birds that were not accustomed decreased in species richness.
Food webs are important because it defines animal relationships in an ecosystem, mutual dependisity and the balance of natural habitats. According to Maria Aguilera (2015), ecosystems can alter depending on the food web of the area. The Lake Tahoe Basin’s aquatic food web includes native and nonnative fish, zooplankton and phytoplankton (UC Davis Tahoe Research Center 2010).
AP BIO IMPERILED ECOSYSTEMS PROJECT 4
Abiotic Relationships within the Ecosystems
An abiotic factor is a non-living condition, such as climate and habitat that influences or affects on an ecosystem and its species. The main objective of abiotic factors are that they are nonliving, and are part of the environment. In Lake Tahoe Basin, the abiotic factors include sunlight, temperature, water, pollution and wind. Sunlight is an abiotic factor because plants in the water need sunlight for photosynthesis, in order to survive. Water is an abiotic factor because aquatic animals, such as fish, need water in order to survive (Thompson 2014).
Abiotic and Biotic Interactions
Symbiosis is a large aspect of abiotic and biotic interactions. This is when individuals of more than one species live in direct and intimate contact with each other. Symbiosis in the Lake Tahoe Basin includes mutualism, predation, competition, parasitism and commensalism. Predation is the interaction between species where one species, the predator, survives off another species, the prey. The predator survives at the expense of the prey (Cain et al., 2014). In the Lake Tahoe Basin, the Lahontan Cutthroat is the predator within aquatic animals. The prey of the Lahontan Cutthroat decreases the Cutthroat feeds off them to survive. Competition is the interaction between species for resources such as food, shelter, and mates. In the basin, the goldfish is relative to competition because the fish takes away water from oxygen producing plants, this then alters the clarity and temperature of the lake (Thompson, 2014). In parasitism, an organism, the parasite, takes the nourishment from another organism, the host. The parasite benefits from this, while the host does not and is harmed during the process (Cain et al., 2014).
AP BIO IMPERILED ECOSYSTEMS PROJECT 5
In the Lake Tahoe Basin, larvae are the parasites on the fish, which is their host.
However, this does not have a significant effect on the basin. Mutualism is the interspecific interaction that benefits both species. Lichens are an example of mutualism in the Lake Tahoe Basin because Lichens are communities of algae and fungi. The algae makes oxygen for the fungi while the fungi produces food for the algae, interacting as a team to benefit both species. In commensalism, only one species is benefited during the interaction while the organism is neither harmed or benefited. Bacteria uses plankton to make their biomass, and this is an example of commensalism (Thompson, …show more content…
2014).
Harms to the Ecosystem
The Lake Tahoe Basin is one of the many ecosystems in crisis. The basin’s predicted future is threatened by drought, wildfires, challenges of climate, as well as invasive species (“The Lake Tahoe’s Future in Danger…” 2014). Various actions have been made to help sustain the basin, although much more effort is needed. The beloved lake still undergoes the many threats that could potentially ruin the Lake Tahoe Basin.
Recently, California has gone through a severe drought that has impacted human society’s lifestyle, America’s economy, and environment. The drought’s severity reached the Lake Tahoe Basin, and is one of the causes of why the ecosystem is in danger. Research by DeLong and Gazette (2014) have shown that the basin is vulnerable to an extreme decrease in water, and could possibly affect the flow from the alpine jewel into the Truckee River. The Lake Tahoe Basin’s drought has been impacting the environment for three years. The last time the Lake
AP BIO IMPERILED ECOSYSTEMS PROJECT 6
Tahoe has seen such a severe and serious drought was in 1994.
The droughts have caused the lake to decrease below its natural rim (DeLong & Gazette, 2014). To mitigate the harms to the drought in the ecosystem, the townspeople have taken caution in their water uses. The 93,000 locals of Lake Tahoe made it a goal to decrease water usage by 10% in 2014. The residents achieved this goal and saved about 1,150 acre-feet of water. There are few fishes in the Lake Tahoe Basin, but the aquatic animals are impacted the most in the basin’s drought. The dominant fish of the basin is the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout, also known as the Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi. The fish is about 50 inches long, and weighs around 40 pounds. This large fish was depended on by many residents for survival, and is now one of the endangered species of the Lake Tahoe Basin. Other causes of threats to the species’s existence are the dams that destroyed their habitat, and the development of urbanization, which increased their chances of being the prey, rather than their original role as the predator (“Keep Lake Tahoe Blue”
2013)..
Wildfires have been a serious hazard, especially since the Lake Tahoe Basin is surrounded by many trees. Wildfires impacts the ecosystem negatively, because it affects the basin’s capability to house many species. The forests of the Lake Tahoe Basin houses endangered species such as the Sierra Red Fox, also known as Vulpes vulpes necator, the Grizzly Bear, or the Ursus arctos, and the Mountain Beaver, also named Aplodontia rufa. Wildfires could potentially harm, and decrease species abundance and could also cause extinction of these species. Many actions have been taken to prevent wildfires, such as logging. Although, many
AP BIO IMPERILED ECOSYSTEMS PROJECT 7 people have found that logging does not work, and are pushing legislation to provide about $415 million dollars to help prevent and give attention to fire dangers and erosion (“The Lake Tahoe’s Future in Danger…” 2014).
protected.
Geography of the Lake Tahoe Basin
The Lake Tahoe Basin is split between the states of California and Nevada.
One-third of the basin belongs to Nevada, while the other two-thirds are located in California. The Sierra Nevada surrounds the basin in the west, while the basin is surrounded by the Carson Range to the east. The basin was made by geologic block many millions of years ago, and its terrains are surrounded by the Sierra Mountains (Gould, 2012).
During the last ice age, the glaciers contributed to the formation of the Lake’s elevation in the north, south, and the west. These glaciers formed Lake Tahoe’s Donner Lake and Emerald Lake. Other natural occurrences formed the Lake Tahoe basin such as the shift of tectonic plates, which made the Sierra Nevada and the Carson range surround the basin. The shift of the tectonic
AP BIO IMPERILED ECOSYSTEMS PROJECT 2 plates were caused by volcanic activity, which helped fill in gaps and dammed the valley. In modern day, the Sierra is getting lower. This is caused by erosion and weathering in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Research predicts that the lake will turn into a meadow in about 3, 158,400 years because of rate of the sediment filling in the lake (“History of Tahoe” 2011).
By the 19th century, the Lake Tahoe Basin became a popular vacation destination.
Although, mostly San Francisco’s elite were able to stay. By 1901, Lake Tahoe’s first tavern was established. The tavern included a casino, ballroom, and laundry. The first Tavern was founded by Walter Danforth Bliss, who later was decided to be a full time peace officer with limited policing authority. In 1904, Lake Tahoe was richly populated with residents. This started the human relationship between the environmental factors of the Lake Tahoe Basin (“History of Tahoe” 2011).
Today, there is a resource management and a land-use planning for the Lake Tahoe Basin.
This is essential to preserving the land and sustaining the ecosystem because it provides a watchful eye of the environment and how it is used between different species. Human activity increased, and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency slowed the process of urbanization, to keep a large fraction of strictly nature. To help preserve the land, the California Tahoe Conservancy was formed. This organization helped prevent threats that would harm the Lake Tahoe Basin, and made efforts to sustain its ecological integrity. Because of the Lake Tahoe Basin’s popularity within the country, great efforts were put into helping preserve the area, as well as natural resources because it was not only home and a desired residents to many humans, but are also home to many species (Manley et al. 2015).
AP BIO IMPERILED ECOSYSTEMS PROJECT 3
Biotic Relationships within the Ecosystem
Biotic relationships are the relationships of living species within an ecosystem. Biotic factors in the Lake Tahoe Basin include bacteria and different aquatic plants. The main objective of biotic organisms is that they are living organisms. The environment’s ability of keeping control of urban areas can help sustain its biotic diversity. Manley et al. (2015) claimed that the increase of the development of taxonomic groups is an attribute to the decline of the richness and abundance of species in the basin, and conducted a research in biotic diversity interfacing with urbanization in the Lake Tahoe Basin. The research conducted is important because it is useful for land use planning that sustains biodiversity within the basin.In their research, they sampled birds, mammals, and plants in about one hundred random sites in the years of 2003 and 2004. Of these species, birds were found to have a more potent response to development, especially the type of birds that were already accustomed to human interactions, such as the House Finch and the Stellar Jay. However, birds that were not familiar with interactions of others, and were less plentiful, such as the woodpecker, declined. The birds that were already used to having human interactions had an advantage, while the birds that were not accustomed decreased in species richness.
Food webs are important because it defines animal relationships in an ecosystem, mutual dependisity and the balance of natural habitats. According to Maria Aguilera (2015), ecosystems can alter depending on the food web of the area. The Lake Tahoe Basin’s aquatic food web includes native and nonnative fish, zooplankton and phytoplankton (UC Davis Tahoe Research Center 2010).
AP BIO IMPERILED ECOSYSTEMS PROJECT 4
Abiotic Relationships within the Ecosystems
An abiotic factor is a non-living condition, such as climate and habitat that influences or affects on an ecosystem and its species. The main objective of abiotic factors are that they are nonliving, and are part of the environment. In Lake Tahoe Basin, the abiotic factors include sunlight, temperature, water, pollution and wind. Sunlight is an abiotic factor because plants in the water need sunlight for photosynthesis, in order to survive. Water is an abiotic factor because aquatic animals, such as fish, need water in order to survive (Thompson 2014).
Abiotic and Biotic Interactions
Symbiosis is a large aspect of abiotic and biotic interactions. This is when individuals of more than one species live in direct and intimate contact with each other. Symbiosis in the Lake Tahoe Basin includes mutualism, predation, competition, parasitism and commensalism. Predation is the interaction between species where one species, the predator, survives off another species, the prey. The predator survives at the expense of the prey (Cain et al., 2014). In the Lake Tahoe Basin, the Lahontan Cutthroat is the predator within aquatic animals. The prey of the Lahontan Cutthroat decreases the Cutthroat feeds off them to survive. Competition is the interaction between species for resources such as food, shelter, and mates. In the basin, the goldfish is relative to competition because the fish takes away water from oxygen producing plants, this then alters the clarity and temperature of the lake (Thompson, 2014). In parasitism, an organism, the parasite, takes the nourishment from another organism, the host. The parasite benefits from this, while the host does not and is harmed during the process (Cain et al., 2014).
AP BIO IMPERILED ECOSYSTEMS PROJECT 5
In the Lake Tahoe Basin, larvae are the parasites on the fish, which is their host.
However, this does not have a significant effect on the basin. Mutualism is the interspecific interaction that benefits both species. Lichens are an example of mutualism in the Lake Tahoe Basin because Lichens are communities of algae and fungi. The algae makes oxygen for the fungi while the fungi produces food for the algae, interacting as a team to benefit both species. In commensalism, only one species is benefited during the interaction while the organism is neither harmed or benefited. Bacteria uses plankton to make their biomass, and this is an example of commensalism (Thompson, …show more content…
2014).
Harms to the Ecosystem
The Lake Tahoe Basin is one of the many ecosystems in crisis. The basin’s predicted future is threatened by drought, wildfires, challenges of climate, as well as invasive species (“The Lake Tahoe’s Future in Danger…” 2014). Various actions have been made to help sustain the basin, although much more effort is needed. The beloved lake still undergoes the many threats that could potentially ruin the Lake Tahoe Basin.
Recently, California has gone through a severe drought that has impacted human society’s lifestyle, America’s economy, and environment. The drought’s severity reached the Lake Tahoe Basin, and is one of the causes of why the ecosystem is in danger. Research by DeLong and Gazette (2014) have shown that the basin is vulnerable to an extreme decrease in water, and could possibly affect the flow from the alpine jewel into the Truckee River. The Lake Tahoe Basin’s drought has been impacting the environment for three years. The last time the Lake
AP BIO IMPERILED ECOSYSTEMS PROJECT 6
Tahoe has seen such a severe and serious drought was in 1994.
The droughts have caused the lake to decrease below its natural rim (DeLong & Gazette, 2014). To mitigate the harms to the drought in the ecosystem, the townspeople have taken caution in their water uses. The 93,000 locals of Lake Tahoe made it a goal to decrease water usage by 10% in 2014. The residents achieved this goal and saved about 1,150 acre-feet of water. There are few fishes in the Lake Tahoe Basin, but the aquatic animals are impacted the most in the basin’s drought. The dominant fish of the basin is the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout, also known as the Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi. The fish is about 50 inches long, and weighs around 40 pounds. This large fish was depended on by many residents for survival, and is now one of the endangered species of the Lake Tahoe Basin. Other causes of threats to the species’s existence are the dams that destroyed their habitat, and the development of urbanization, which increased their chances of being the prey, rather than their original role as the predator (“Keep Lake Tahoe Blue”
2013)..
Wildfires have been a serious hazard, especially since the Lake Tahoe Basin is surrounded by many trees. Wildfires impacts the ecosystem negatively, because it affects the basin’s capability to house many species. The forests of the Lake Tahoe Basin houses endangered species such as the Sierra Red Fox, also known as Vulpes vulpes necator, the Grizzly Bear, or the Ursus arctos, and the Mountain Beaver, also named Aplodontia rufa. Wildfires could potentially harm, and decrease species abundance and could also cause extinction of these species. Many actions have been taken to prevent wildfires, such as logging. Although, many
AP BIO IMPERILED ECOSYSTEMS PROJECT 7 people have found that logging does not work, and are pushing legislation to provide about $415 million dollars to help prevent and give attention to fire dangers and erosion (“The Lake Tahoe’s Future in Danger…” 2014).