UC Davis students propose turning invasive species into dog food
You may have heard commercials asking you if you 'really know what is in your dog's food'. Not to mention , do you know what types of meat are in the bits of kibble in each bite? These were the questions that graduate students at UC Davis's Graduate School for Management asked as part of their project to restore the Lake Tahoe ecosystem.
Six graduate students and members of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center have collaborated to create a product from an invasive species. Specifically, an aquatic invasive species known as Mysis Shrimp.
"This shrimp has been in the waters of Lake Tahoe for more than sixty years," says Heath Segale, Education Program Development at the TERC. "To explain it simply, this zooplankton is not native to Tahoe so it interferes with other zooplankton that help keep the water clear of algae. Mysis shrimp eats two other zooplankton known as Daphnia and Bosmina that keep the water clear."
Segale says the students came up with different proposals for removing this species. One is to create a health supplement for humans to use to boost Omega3-Fatty Acids. The other is turning it into a type of dog, or fish, food that can be safe to consume.
"There is a surprising amount of nutrients in these tiny shrimp," says Segale.
Some concerns include the newly found micro-plastics in the water and if the research could prevent micro-plastics from being located in each bit of kibble. Segale says students have already began to research ways to remove micro-plastics from the shrimp once they are removed.
The other concern comes from a business perspective. Such as, if this project gets rid of all the invasive shrimp, would the product become obsolete?
"That is something the team at UC Davis is still figuring out," says Segale. "This is just the beginning phases of research and there is no final product or proposal in place at this time."
For any suggestions, questions, or concerns, feel free to reach out to our reporter, Miles Buergin.