First Investigations of Meiofauna in Lake Tahoe and Impacts of Asian Clam Remediation on Community Structure

Meiofauna are very small animals that are found in the sediment of marine and freshwater environments such as Lake Tahoe. This study was designed in order to provide a first look at the meiofauna that inhabit Lake Tahoe. Another aspect to the study was to observe the effects that the remediation methods to remove the invasive clam species Corbicula fluminea have had on the meiofauna. Sediment core samples were collected from Lake Tahoe at the locations that clams have invaded and the remediation treatment locations. The two remediation methods were suction dredging to remove sediment and large mats places on the lake floor. The taxa composition varied between the two sites Lakeside and Marla Bay, which may be due to grain size, extent of clam invasion, or enrichment effect. The mat treatment was found to not be significantly different from the control while the suction treatment was significantly different from both with a beneficial effect on the meiofauna