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Beavers: Boreal Ecosystem Engineers

  • Book
  • © 2017

Overview

Authors:
  1. Carol A. Johnston

    1. Department of Natural Resource Management, South Dakota State University, Brookings, USA

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  • Focuses specifically on landscape and ecosystem alteration by beavers

  • Provides a cohesive reference useful to wetland scientists, ecosystem and landscape ecologists, wildlife managers, and students

  • Contains many potential applications to natural resource management in boreal regions, including how beaver activity affects water storage, sediment and nutrient transport, and the availability of wetlands as wildlife habitat

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxxix
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Legacy of Beaver–Human Interaction

    • Carol A. Johnston
    Pages 1-11

  3. Ecosystem Engineers: Beaver Ponds

    • Carol A. Johnston
    Pages 13-49

  4. Altering the Water Cycle

    • Carol A. Johnston, Terry N. Brown, Kirsten Cahow-Scholtes
    Pages 51-89

  5. Beaver Loggers: Beaver Herbivory Alters Forest Structure

    • Carol A. Johnston
    Pages 91-116

  6. Soils of Beaver Meadows

    • Carol A. Johnston
    Pages 117-136

  7. Vegetation of Beaver Impoundments

    • Carol A. Johnston
    Pages 137-176

  8. The Biogeochemistry of Boreal Beaver Ponds

    • Carol A. Johnston
    Pages 177-200

  9. Beaver Ponds and the Carbon Cycle

    • Carol A. Johnston
    Pages 201-221

  10. Fish Assemblages in a Beaver-Influenced Successional Landscape

    • Isaac J. Schlosser, Larry W. Kallemeyn
    Pages 223-238

  11. Beavers as Engineers of Wildlife Habitat

    • Steve K. Windels
    Pages 239-268

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 269-272
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Keywords

About this book

Bridging the fields of ecosystem science and landscape ecology, this book integrates Dr. Carol Johnston's research on beaver ecosystem alteration at Voyageurs National Park. The findings about the vegetation, soils, and chemistry of beaver impoundments synthesized in the text provide a cohesive reference useful to wetland scientists, ecosystems and landscape ecologysts, wildlife managers, and students. The beaver, Castor canadensis, is an ecosystem engineer unequaled in its capacity to alter landscapes through browsing and dam building, whose population recovery has re-established environmental conditions that probably existed for millenia prior to its near extirpation by trapping in the 1800s and 1900s. Beavers continue to regain much of their natural range throughout North America, changing stream and forest ecosystems in ways that may be lauded or vilified. Interest in beavers by ecologists remains keen as new evidence emerges about the ecological, hydrological, and biogeochemical effects of beaver browsing and construction. There is a critical need for ecologists and land managers to understand the potential magnitude, persistence, and ecosystem services of beaver landscape transformation. The 88-year record of beaver landscape occupation and alteration documented by Dr. Carol Johnston and colleagues from aerial photography and field work provides a unique resource toward understanding the ecosystem effects and sustainability of beaver activity.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Natural Resource Management, South Dakota State University, Brookings, USA

    Carol A. Johnston

About the author

Carol A. Johnston, Professor, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 57006

Email: carol.johnston@sdstate.edu

Phone: (605) 688-6464


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