University scientists can and must take an active role in ecosystem management, says John Reuter, director of the Lake Tahoe Interagency Monitoring Program and a UC Davis researcher. Recent UC Davis findings at Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake can be applied to lake and watershed management, according to presentations by Reuter and others at this week's meeting of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography. Lake Tahoe is world renowned for its pristine water quality, which has been declining for the nearly 30 years that UC Davis researchers have been monitoring it. UC Davis efforts include organizing the interagency monitoring program to better coordinate data collection and analysis efforts among the 13 state and federal agencies that oversee aspects of the California and Nevada lake and surrounding watershed. The UC Davis Lake Tahoe Research Group has also been tracking down the changing sources of the lake's diminishing clarity. These studies suggest that erosion control is important for preserving the lake's famed clarity. In other work, the UC Davis Tahoe group is reconstructing the lake history through paleolimnological studies, further exploring the impact of human activity upon the watershed. Ultimately, the researchers hope to develop water-quality modeling tools to help preserve Lake Tahoe.