Incline village, nev. – Stephanie Hampton, the new director of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC), went on stage as part of the scientific series of the center to talk about her work in gentle ecology, which excites her about lakes and why she came to Tahoe to work at Terc.
Hampton has only been in Terc for seven weeks, but she has two decades of experience in research on freshwater ecology – which helped inform stakeholders and political decision -makers in the environment world. Previously, she worked as deputy director of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California in Santa Barbara, as well as director of the Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach at Washington State University, where she was also a professor.
During his speech, Hampton underlined the scarcity of fresh water on earth and how important it was to protect and manage this small quantity.
Barely 0.02% of surface water on earth is renewable, liquid, fresh surface water, a derisory quantity which nevertheless supports all life on the planet. This fresh water moves in the world through large-scale physical sciences, but the real quality of water itself depends on the small scales, driven by interactions of phytoplankton, zooplankton, bacteria and fungi. (Hampton has taken a small side to complete the quality of drinking water at Lake Tahoe now that it has moved to the region.)
Although she has worked in many different lakes, one of her main research zones is Lake Ice in winter: how she supports life and what is at stake while lakes around the world become warmer. Although Lake Tahoe never freezes completely, it was part of the Tahoe -Baikal Institute, connecting it to Lake Baikal in Siberia – where Hampton did research on algae under ice.
The unique ecosystem of Lake Baikal was documented for 60 years by the Kozhov family, which Hampton praised for its completeness and the few shortcomings in the time of the set of data. His work in the search for large data sets helped develop theories on tufts of algae under the ice. These large carpets grow under clear ice during the winter, then separate and float downwards when the ice melts, providing nutrition to the lows of the lake – similar to the food networks of the sea ecosystem.
Now, thanks to the financing of a subsidy of the National Science Foundation, the scientists of the lake around the world join Hampton during the first year of sampling of the lake, comparing the summer and winter dynamics in a wide range of measures. One of the main reasons why Hampton considers that this work is important is that, as lakes warm up due to climate change, they become more difficult to manage – and warmer temperatures can be the first domino of a chain of biochemical reactions that can limit nutrients and increase pollution in lakes.
Another of Hampton’s research areas is the growth of algae close to Earth, which is a huge subject in Tahoe, and one of the reasons why she was delighted to work here. “The partnership between science and the community is one of the things that attracted me to this position,” said Hampton.
Hampton told the gallery that she had invested a large part of her first weeks in the Terc to find out her team and the partners around the lake who are involved in the preservation of the lake, such as the League to save Lake Tahoe and the regional agency of Tahoe. It was delighted with the historical and long -standing interest of the community in the lake.
“It is very difficult in most places to move science to action,” said Hampton. “But I am encouraged by participating in these questions. We cannot be paralyzed by things out of our control, so we have to do what we can and avoid damage as far as possible.”
As a ecologist, Hampton was delighted to collaborate with engineers, physical scientists and environmental scientists who informed a large part of the lake conservation, in particular because the Tahoe food network has been so modified by human interactions. She is impatiently awaiting projects on algae on the ground, the responses from plankton to physical sciences and other ecological analyzes of a lake rich in data.
“Lakes are an extremely precious resource for this rarity of fresh water, which makes my work important and necessary,” said Hampton. She referred to the research she had spoken of and to all colleagues and at work of which she had been part of her career, saying: “This is what it takes to provide the type of management necessary for this resource.”
The next scientific series at Terc will take place on May 1 concerning the American Pika. More details can be found on the Terc event page.
Eli Ramos is a journalist for Tahoe Daily Tribune. They are part of the 2024-20126 cohort of local California stock markets through UC Berkeley.