Balance of nature: importance of beavers in ecosystems (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, July 05, 2019, 19:17 (1757 days ago) @ David Turell

Their dams change the local environment and benefit many animals:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7217451/Beavers-dams-useful-environment...

"An array of different animal species benefit from having beavers in their environments because they boost biodiversity, researchers claim.

"The semiaquatic rodents were capable of facilitating many groups of organisms to thrive near beaver patches including moose, otters, and weasels.

"According to the study, they do this by preventing drought, carbon sequestration, flood management and keeping streams cool.

"The team, from the University of Helsinki in Finland, describe them as 'ecosystem engineers' because their dam-building work has such a good effect on habitats.

***

"The researchers argue that promoting facilitative ecosystem engineering by beavers could be very valuable in habitat conservation or restoration, especially in landscapes deficient in wetlands.

"The team set up camera traps and looked at tracks in southern Finland where the American beaver was introduced in the 1950s.

"After analysing the footage they compared the composition of mammal fauna of 10 beaver-modified sites with 10 control sites.

"The tracks showed that moose, otters, weasels and pine martens were more active in beaver patches than other sites.

"'The otter is a species of some concern in Europe, so this may be important from that point of view,' Petri Nummi at the University of Helsinki, Finland told the New Scientist.

"They found that water from the dams beavers build flood large areas, creating shallow ponds that harbour lots of invertebrates, like insects and crustaceans, the study said.

"The trees they fell create open spaces in the forest where young saplings can grow, they said.

"Felled trees, saplings and aquatic plants can all provide food for moose.
When beavers leave a pond and their dams break, the previously flooded area is rich in nutrients and can become a meadow.

"In forests where beavers have been introduced in Finland, their presence is linked to increased activity of several species, according to [the research]."

Comment: All part of the important balance of nature as created by God in his management of evolution. In my view humans were the goal of the creation of the entire process.