Beavers Are Partners in Riparian Restoration on the Zuni Indian Reservation

Albert, Steven K.; Trimble, Timothy

doi:10.3368/er.18.2.87

Cited by 48 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Beavers provide a classic example of an ecosystem engineer that act as potential restoration agents through slowing water flows and altering stream morphology with subsequent cascading impacts (Albert andTrimble 2000, Pollock et al 2014). Indeed, it is possible that accepted restoration goals and practices for rivers may need to be reassessed because they are based on a reference situation that lacks the influence of beavers (Burchsted et al 2010).…”

Section: Moving From Compositional To Functional Goals In a Changing mentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in restoration ecology: rising to the challenges of the coming decades

et al. 2015

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Abstract. Simultaneous environmental changes challenge biodiversity persistence and human wellbeing. The science and practice of restoration ecology, in collaboration with other disciplines, can contribute to overcoming these challenges. This endeavor requires a solid conceptual foundation based in empirical research which confronts, tests and influences theoretical developments. We review conceptual developments in restoration ecology over the last 30 years. We frame our review in the context of changing restoration goals which reflect increased societal awareness of the scale of environmental degradation and the recognition that inter-disciplinary approaches are needed to tackle environmental problems. Restoration ecology now encompasses facilitative interactions and network dynamics, trophic cascades, and above-and belowground linkages. It operates in a non-equilibrium, alternative states framework, at the landscape scale, and in response to changing environmental, economic and social conditions. Progress has been marked by conceptual advances in the fields of trait-environment relationships, community assembly, and understanding the links between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Conceptual and practical advances have been enhanced by applying evolving technologies, including treatments to increase seed germination and overcome recruitment bottlenecks, high throughput DNA sequencing to elucidate soil community structure and function, and advances in satellite technology and GPS tracking to monitor habitat use. The synthesis of these technologies with systematic reviews of context dependencies in restoration success, model based analyses and consideration of complex socioecological systems will allow generalizations to inform evidence based interventions. Ongoing challenges include setting realistic, socially acceptable goals for restoration under changing environmental conditions, and prioritizing actions in an increasingly space-competitive world. Ethical questions also surround the use of genetically modified material, translocations, taxon substitutions, and de-extinction, in restoration ecology. Addressing these issues, as the Ecological Society of America looks to its next century, will require current and future generations of researchers and practitioners, including economists, engineers, philosophers, landscape architects, social scientists and restoration ecologists, to work together with communities and governments to rise to the environmental challenges of the coming decades.

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Section: Moving From Compositional To Functional Goals In a Changing mentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in restoration ecology: rising to the challenges of the coming decades

et al. 2015

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“…Beaver dams can be long-term or ephemeral geomorphic features of a stream valley (Woo and Waddington 1990) that typically span the entire channel and are maintained year round on streams with low power (Warren 1926, Johnston and 3 Corresponding author. E-mail: davidc@warnercnr.colostate.edu Naiman 1990, Burns and Mcdonnell 1998, Albert and Trimble 2000. Beaver dams raise local water tables and allow deposition of fine-grained sediment (Meentemeyer and Butler 1999), producing suitable conditions for willow establishment (Bigler et al 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrologic Regime and Herbivory Stabilize an Alternative State in Yellowstone National Park

Wolf

Cooper

Hobbs

2007

Ecological Applications

151

162

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Abstract. A decline in the stature and abundance of willows during the 20th century occurred throughout the northern range of Yellowstone National Park, where riparian woody-plant communities are key components in multiple-trophic-level interactions. The potential causes of willow decline include climate change, increased elk browsing coincident with the loss of an apex predator, the gray wolf, and an absence of habitat engineering by beavers. The goal of this study was to determine the spatial and temporal patterns of willow establishment through the 20th century and to identify causal processes. Sampled willows established from 1917 to 1999 and contained far fewer young individuals than was predicted from a modeled stable willow population, indicating reduced establishment during recent decades. Two hydrologically distinct willow establishment environments were identified: finegrained beaver pond sediments and coarse-grained alluvium. Willows established on beaver pond sediment earlier in time, higher on floodplain surfaces, and farther from the current stream channel than did willows on alluvial sediment. Significant linear declines from the 1940s to the 1990s in alluvial willow establishment elevation and lateral distance from the stream channel resulted in a much reduced area of alluvial willow establishment. Willow establishment was not well correlated with climate-driven hydrologic variables, but the trends were consistent with the effects of stream channel incision initiated in ca. 1950, 20-30 years after beaver dam abandonment. Radiocarbon dates and floodplain stratigraphy indicate that stream incision of the present magnitude may be unprecedented in the past two millennia. We propose that hydrologic changes, stemming from competitive exclusion of beaver by elk overbrowsing, caused the landscape to transition from a historical beaver-pond and willowmosaic state to its current alternative stable state where active beaver dams and many willow stands are absent. Because of hydrologic changes in streams, a rapid return to the historical state may not occur by reduction of elk browsing alone. Management intervention to restore the historical hydrologic regime may be necessary to recover willows and beavers across the landscape.

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“…Such conditions are superior for native riparian trees, which can avoid the seasonal droughts that would otherwise cause stress, and are unfavorable for tamarisk, which experiences increased stress from inundation (Baker 1995;Baker and others 1992;Glausiusz 1996). Indeed, tamarisk was killed by beaver impoundments in New Mexico (Albert and Trimble 2000). Nowhere in the literature is there any suggestion that beavers promote the spread of tamarisk in the arid southwest (but see Lesica and Miles 2004).…”

Section: Tamariskmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The exact sites occupied by beavers at Lake Skinner could not have been occupied historically-Lake Skinner is an artificial impoundment and the riparian zones adjacent to it in the Reserve were facilitated by its construction. The changes to riparian systems from beaver presence usually are seen as ecologically beneficial, and beavers are reintroduced to restore riparian areas in arid and semi-arid western North America and elsewhere (Albert 1999;Albert and Trimble 2000;Baker 1995;Collen 1995;McKinstry and others 2001;O'Connell 1999), including in California (Cook 2000). By impounding water behind dams, beavers influence riparian landscapes by changing the geomorphology and hydrology of stream channels, creating wetlands, altering nutrient cycles, affecting water flows and quality, retaining sediment, and transforming vegetation patterns, all of which influence patterns of aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity (Rosell and Parker 1996).…”

Section: Beaversmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management by Assertion: Beavers and Songbirds at Lake Skinner (Riverside County, California)

Longcore¹,

Rich²,

Müller-Schwarze³

2007

Environmental Management

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Management of ecological reserve lands should rely on the best available science to achieve the goal of biodiversity conservation. ''Adaptive Resource Management'' is the current template to ensure that management decisions are reasoned and that decisions increase understanding of the system being managed. In systems with little human disturbance, certain management decisions are clear; steps to protect native species usually include the removal of invasive species. In highly modified systems, however, appropriate management steps to conserve biodiversity are not as readily evident. Managers must, more than ever, rely upon the development and testing of hypotheses to make rational management decisions. We present a case study of modern reserve management wherein beavers (Castor canadensis) were suspected of destroying habitat for endangered songbirds (least Bell's vireo, Vireo bellii pusillus, and southwestern willow flycatcher, Empidonax traillii extimus) and for promoting the invasion of an exotic plant (tamarisk, Tamarix spp.) at an artificial reservoir in southern California. This case study documents the consequences of failing to follow the process of Adaptive Resource Management. Managers made decisions that were unsupported by the scientific literature, and actions taken were likely counterproductive. The opportunity to increase knowledge of the ecosystem was lost. Uninformed management decisions, essentially ''management by assertion,'' undermine the longterm prospects for biodiversity conservation.

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Beavers Are Partners in Riparian Restoration on the Zuni Indian Reservation

Cited by 48 publications

References 2 publications

Advances in restoration ecology: rising to the challenges of the coming decades

Advances in restoration ecology: rising to the challenges of the coming decades

Hydrologic Regime and Herbivory Stabilize an Alternative State in Yellowstone National Park

Management by Assertion: Beavers and Songbirds at Lake Skinner (Riverside County, California)

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