Beaver Library

Beavers, Castor canadensis in North America and Castor fiber in Eurasia, are widely referred to as nature’s engineers due to their ability to rapidly transform diverse landscapes into dynamic wetland ecosystems. Few other organisms exhibit the same level of control over local geomorphic, hydrologic, and ecological conditions. Though freshwater ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to changing climate, beavers and their wetland homes have persisted throughout the Northern Hemisphere during numerous prior periods of climatic change. Some research suggests that the need to create stable, climate-buffered habitats at high latitudes during the Miocene directly led to the evolution of dam construction. As we follow an unprecedented trajectory of anthropogenic warming, we have the unique opportunity to describe how beaver ecosystem engineering ameliorates climate change today. Here, we review how beavers create and maintain local hydroclimatic stability and influence larger-scale biophysical ecosystem processes in the context of past, present, and future climate change.

Mark Beardsley with EcoMetrics in Colorado presents on the benefits of partnering with beaver to restore wetlands. Learn more about Process Based Restoration, Beaver Relocation, and more in this webinar, presented to Society of Wetland Scientists on April 20, 2021

Although the beaver-related restoration has broad appeal, especially in water-limited systems, its effectiveness is not yet well documented. This article presents a process-expectation framework that links beaver-related restoration tactics to commonly expected outcomes by identifying the set of process pathways that must occur to achieve those expected outcomes. Due to changes in expectations, a more useful paradigm for evaluating process-based restoration would be to identify relevant processes and to rigorously document how projects do or do not proceed along expected process pathways using both quantitative and qualitative data.

We aimed to recognise beaver-produced ecosystem services and quantify their theoretical value for the entire Northern Hemisphere.