Patterns of Beaver Colonization and Wetland Change in Acadia National Park

Cunningham, Jesse M.; Calhoun, Aram J. K.; Glanz, William E.

doi:10.1656/1092-6194(2006)13[583:pobcaw]2.0.co;2

Cited by 40 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Studies have highlighted the value of image analysis to quantify landscape alteration by beaver activity, using data obtained from satellite or conventional aircraft platforms (Johnston and Naiman 1990;Townsend and Butler 1996;Butler 2002;Cunningham et al 2006;Polvi and Wohl 2012;Malison et al 2014). However, the acquisition of these data can be costly and the imagery hitherto analysed has had a relatively coarse spatial resolution (e.g., 7 m (Johnston and Naiman 1990); 30 m (Townsend and Butler 1996); 1-4 m (Butler 2002); 2.4 m (Malison et al 2014)).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerial photography collected with a multirotor drone reveals impact of Eurasian beaver reintroduction on ecosystem structure

Puttock

Cunliffe

Anderson

et al. 2015

J. Unmanned Veh. Sys.

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Beavers are often described as ecological engineers with an ability to modify the structure and flow of fluvial systems and create complex wetland environments with dams, ponds, and canals. Consequently, beaver activity has implications for a wide range of environmental ecosystem services including biodiversity, flood risk mitigation, water quality, and sustainable drinking water provision. With the current debate surrounding the reintroduction of beavers into the United Kingdom, it is critical to be able to monitor the impact of beavers upon the environment. This study presents the first proof of concept results showing how a lightweight hexacopter fitted with a simple digital camera can be used to derive orthophoto and digital surface model (DSM) data products at a site where beavers have recently been reintroduced. Early results indicate that analysis of the fine-scale (0.01 m) orthophoto and DSM can be used to identify impacts on the ecosystem structure including the extent of dams and associated ponds, and changes in vegetation structure due to beaver tree-felling activity. Unmanned aerial vehicle data acquisition offers an effective toolkit for regular repeat monitoring at fine spatial resolution, which is a critical attribute for monitoring rapidly changing and difficult to access beaver-impacted ecosystems.Résumé : On décrit souvent les castors comme étant des ingénieurs ayant la capacité de modifier la structure et le débit des systèmes fluviaux et de créer des environnements de milieux humides complexes avec des barrages, des étangs et des canaux. Par conséquent, les activités des castors ont des répercussions sur une vaste gamme de services écosystémiques y compris la biodiversité, l'atténuation des risques d'inondation, la qualité des eaux et l'approvisionnement durable en eau potable. Au moment où un débat se déroule sur la réintroduction des castors au Royaume-Uni, il est crucial d'être en mesure de surveiller l'impact qu'ont les castors sur l'environnement. Cette étude présente les premiers résultats de validation de concept montrant comment un hexacoptère léger muni d'un appareil photonumérique simple embarqué peut servir à prélever des données orthophotos et des modèles numériques de surface (DSM) d'un site où on a réintroduit les castors. Les résultats préliminaires indiquent qu'on peut utiliser les analyses des orthophotos et des DSM à petite échelle (0.01 m) afin de déterminer les impacts sur les structures écosystémiques y compris l'étendue des barrages et des étangs reliés, et les changements de la structure de la végétation attribuables aux activités des castors relativement

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerial photography collected with a multirotor drone reveals impact of Eurasian beaver reintroduction on ecosystem structure

Puttock

Cunliffe

Anderson

et al. 2015

J. Unmanned Veh. Sys.

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show abstract

“…Beaver ponds were once ubiquitous across North American lotic systems and are currently returning to preEuropean settlement densities (Naiman et al, 1988;Foster et al, 2002;Cunningham et al, 2006). Predicting the location of beaver ponds in watersheds has been approached from a beaver food-resource perspective (Dieter & Mccabe, 1989) as well as a geomorphology perspective (Jakes et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does the morphology of beaver ponds alter downstream ecosystems?

Fuller

Peckarsky

2011

Hydrobiologia

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Differences among lake morphologies often explain variation in characteristics of lentic ecosystems. Although beaver ponds also vary in morphology, previous studies have not examined the effects of such variation on downstream ecosystems. This study evaluated downstream effects of multiple beaver ponds in the Colorado Rocky Mountains during one low and one high-flow year. Beaver pond morphology was described as the natural log transformed ratio of beaver dam height (which determines hydraulic head) to pond surface area and related to pond spillover phytoplankton and characteristics of the ecosystem downstream (nutrient concentrations, limiting nutrients, periphyton, benthic organic matter (BOM), and benthic invertebrate consumers). Nitrate concentration increased systematically downstream of beaver ponds, but only in the low flow year when groundwater influences predominated. Effects of beaver ponds on soluble reactive phosphorus concentration depended on pond morphology, increasing downstream of small ponds with high dams, but only during the low-flow year. In situ experiments showed that neither beaver activity nor pond morphology predicted periphyton-limiting nutrients downstream. Both periphyton biomass and BOM decreased downstream of small ponds with high dams but pond morphology did not predict abundance of invertebrate grazers or detritus-feeding consumers. While suspension feeding invertebrates increased downstream from small ponds with high dams, variation in chlorophyll a from water spilling over beaver dams did not follow a similar pattern. We conclude that the effects of beaver ponds on downstream nutrients, resources and consumers are rarely systematic, but instead depend on variation in pond morphology and on annual hydrologic variation.

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“…For example, beaver dams raise local surface water and ground water levels, affecting riparian vegetation (Cunningham et al, 2006), and the dams change lotic stream habitat to lentic habitat within the impoundment, affecting aquatic invertebrate assemblages (McDowell and Naiman, 1986). The impoundment, or beaver pond, alters the rate at which water, solutes, and sediment move downstream, thereby affecting stream water quality, including temperature and suspended sediment and particulate organic matter concentrations (White, 1990;Gurnell, 1998;Rosell et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beaver dams, hydrological thresholds, and controlled floods as a management tool in a desert riverine ecosystem, Bill Williams River, Arizona

Andersen

Shafroth

2010

Ecohydrology

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Beaver convert lotic stream habitat to lentic through dam construction, and the process is reversed when a flood or other event causes dam failure. We investigated both processes on a regulated Sonoran Desert stream, using the criterion that average current velocity is <0Ð2 m s 1 in a lentic reach. We estimated temporal change in the lotic : lentic stream length ratio by relating beaver pond length (determined by the upstream lentic-lotic boundary position) to dam size, and coupling that to the dam-size frequency distribution and repeated censuses of dams along the 58-km river. The ratio fell from 19 : 1 when no beaver dams were present to <3 : 1 after 7 years of flows favourable for beaver. We investigated the dam failure-flood intensity relationship in three independent trials (experimental floods) featuring peak discharge ranging from 37 to 65 m 3 s 1 . Major damage (breach ½3-m wide) occurred at ½20% of monitored dams (n D 7-86) and a similar or higher proportion was moderately damaged. We detected neither a relationship between dam size and damage level nor a flood discharge threshold for initiating major damage. Dam constituent materials appeared to control the probability of major damage at low (attenuated) flood magnitude. We conclude that environmental flows prescribed to sustain desert riparian forest will also reduce beaver-created lentic habitat in a non-linear manner determined by both beaver dam and flood attributes. Consideration of both desirable and undesirable consequences of ecological engineering by beaver is important when optimizing environmental flows to meet ecological and socioeconomic goals. Published in

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Patterns of Beaver Colonization and Wetland Change in Acadia National Park

Cited by 40 publications

References 23 publications

Aerial photography collected with a multirotor drone reveals impact of Eurasian beaver reintroduction on ecosystem structure

Aerial photography collected with a multirotor drone reveals impact of Eurasian beaver reintroduction on ecosystem structure

Does the morphology of beaver ponds alter downstream ecosystems?

Beaver dams, hydrological thresholds, and controlled floods as a management tool in a desert riverine ecosystem, Bill Williams River, Arizona

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