Comparative characterization of the building activity of Canadian and European beavers in northern European Russia

Danilov, Pjotr; Fyodorov, Fyodor

doi:10.1134/s1067413615030029

Cited by 30 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Based on the results of the questionnaire (114 beaver territories, 458 beaver dams) and the detailed field survey (12 beaver territories, 51 beaver dams), an overview of the dam building activities of beavers in the streams of Bavaria was obtained. Our findings revealed that 90% of the beaver dams were observed in small streams with a width ranging from 2 to 11 m and 59% of the streams were in a depth range of 0.5 to 1 m. These results coincide with observations from other studies, which showed water depths of less than one meter and variable widths ranging between 0.5 and 46 m [16,18,[43][44][45]. In Bavaria, beavers show similar activity patterns as observed in other regions.…”

Section: Survey and Analysis Of Beaver Territoriessupporting

confidence: 90%

Hydraulic Modeling of Beaver Dams and Evaluation of Their Impacts on Flood Events

Neumayer

Teschemacher

Schloemer

et al. 2020

Water

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There is a general agreement on the impact of beaver dams regarding the increasing diversity of habitats and the improvement of the water quality, whereas the retention effect during flood events is still being discussed. In this study, we modeled 12 beaver dam cascade scenarios in two catchments for eight flood events with a two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic model. The implementation of the potential cascades in the model is based on the developed three-stage model for predicting location-dependent dam cascades in Bavaria. A Bavaria-wide questionnaire regarding dam occurrences and characteristics in combination with a detailed survey of 51 dams was used to set up a prediction scheme. It was observed that beaver dams are most likely built in rivers with riparian forest, with widths from 2 to 11 m and depths smaller than 1 m. The hydraulic model results showed larger inundation areas (>+300%) for the beaver dam scenarios. There is a noticeable peak attenuation and translation for elevated peak discharges (five times the annual mean discharge: up to ≤13.1% and 2.75 h), but no remarkable effect could be observed for flood events with return periods of more than 2 years. We conclude from the results that beaver dam cascades can have an impact on runoff characteristics, but do not lead to relevant peak reductions during flood events and therefore cannot be counted as flood mitigation measure.

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Section: Survey and Analysis Of Beaver Territoriessupporting

confidence: 90%

Hydraulic Modeling of Beaver Dams and Evaluation of Their Impacts on Flood Events

Neumayer

Teschemacher

Schloemer

et al. 2020

Water

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“…We included studies on both beaver species. C. canadensis has a slightly higher litter size, but both species have otherwise similar life history, ecology and behaviour (reviewed by Parker et al 2012) and build dams with similar frequency (Danilov and Fyodorov 2015). Hence, we expect similar environmental effects of their dam-construction activity even though, to our knowledge, this has not formally been tested (see Parker et al 2012 for a review).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Meta-analysis of environmental effects of beaver in relation to artificial dams

Ecke

Levanoni

Audet

et al. 2017

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Globally, artificial river impoundment, nutrient enrichment and biodiversity loss impair freshwater ecosystem integrity. Concurrently, beavers, ecosystem engineers recognized for their ability to construct dams and create ponds, are colonizing sites across the Holarctic after widespread extirpation in the 19th century, including areas outside their historical range. This has the potential to profoundly alter hydrology, hydrochemistry and aquatic ecology in both newly colonized and recolonized areas. To further our knowledge of the effects of beaver dams on aquatic environments, we extracted 1366 effect sizes from 89 studies on the impoundment of streams and lakes. Effects were assessed for 16 factors related to hydrogeomorphology, biogeochemistry, ecosystem functioning and biodiversity. Beaver dams affected concentrations of organic carbon in water, mercury in water and biota, sediment conditions and hydrological properties. There were no overall adverse effects caused by beaver dams or ponds on salmonid fish. Age was an important determinant of effect magnitude. While young ponds were a source of phosphorus, there was a tendency for phosphorus retention in older systems. Young ponds were a source methylmercury in water, but old ponds were not. To provide additional context, we also evaluated similarities and differences between environmental effects of beaver-constructed and artificial dams (767 effect sizes from 75 studies). Both are comparable in terms of effects on, for example, biodiversity, but have contrasting effects on nutrient retention and mercury. These results are important for assessing the role of beavers in enhancing and/or degrading ecological integrity in changing Holarctic freshwater systems.

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“…A water-level rise may considerably widen wetland areas and also change the physical, chemical, and biological conditions in the riparian zone. Both beaver species are assumed to have equivalent effects on the environment (Danilov & Fyodorov 2015), but the American beaver appears to reproduce slightly faster (Parker et al 2012).…”

Section: Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beavers affect carbon biogeochemistry: both short‐term and long‐term processes are involved

et al. 2018

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With the recent population increase in beavers (Castor spp.), a considerable amount of new riparian habitat has been created in the Holarctic. We evaluated how beaver‐induced floods affect carbon (C) dynamics in the beaver ponds and in the water‐atmosphere and riparian zone interfaces. Beaver disturbance affects soil organic C storage by decreasing or increasing it, resulting in a redistribution of C. Upon flooding, the concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) increases in the water. This C can be released into the atmosphere, it can settle down to the bottom sediments, it can be sequestered by vegetation, or it can be transported downstream. The carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions vary between 0.14 and 11.2 g CO2 m−2 day−1, averaging 4.9 CO2 g m−2 day−1. The methane (CH4) emissions vary too, from 27 mg m−2 day−1 to 919 mg m−2 day−1, averaging 222 mg CH4 m−2 day−1. Globally, C emission from beaver ponds in the form of CH4 and CO2 may be 3.33–4.62 Tg (teragram, 1012 g) year−1. The yearly short‐term sedimentation rates in beaver ponds vary between 0.4 and 47 cm year−1, and individual ponds contain 9–6355 m3 of sediment. The approximate global estimate for yearly C sedimentation is 3.8 Tg C; beaver ponds globally contain 380 Tg sedimented C. After being formed, beaver pond deposits can remain for millennia. Both C sequestration and CO2 and CH4 emissions in ponds of various ages should be taken into account when considering the net effect of beavers on the C dynamics. With present estimates, beaver ponds globally range from a sink (−0.47 Tg year−1) to a source (0.82 Tg year−1) of C. More research is needed with continuous flux measurements and from ponds of different ages. Likewise, there is a need for more studies in Eurasia to understand the effect of beaver on C biogeochemistry.

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Comparative characterization of the building activity of Canadian and European beavers in northern European Russia

Cited by 30 publications

References 8 publications

Hydraulic Modeling of Beaver Dams and Evaluation of Their Impacts on Flood Events

Hydraulic Modeling of Beaver Dams and Evaluation of Their Impacts on Flood Events

Meta-analysis of environmental effects of beaver in relation to artificial dams

Beavers affect carbon biogeochemistry: both short‐term and long‐term processes are involved

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