Repository logo
 

Beaver dam capacity of Canada’s boreal plain in response to environmental change

dc.contributor.authorStoll, Nichole-Lynn
dc.contributor.authorWestbrook, Cherie
dc.date.accessioned2023-06-27T17:16:13Z
dc.date.available2023-06-27T17:16:13Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.description© Authorsen_US
dc.description.abstractEnvironmental changes are altering the water cycle of Canada’s boreal plain. Beaver dams are well known for increasing water storage and slowing flow through stream networks. For these reasons beavers are increasingly being included in climate change adaptation strategies. But, little work focuses on how environmental changes will affect dam building capacity along stream networks. Here we estimate the capacity of the stream network in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba, Canada to support beaver dams under changing environmental conditions using a modelling approach. We show that at capacity, the park’s stream network can support 24,690 beaver dams and hold between 8.2 and 12.8 million m3 of water in beaver ponds. Between 1991 and 2016 the park’s vegetation composition shifted to less preferred beaver forage, which led to a 13% decrease in maximum dam capacity. We also found that dam capacity is sensitive to the size of regularly-occurring floods— doubling the 2-year flood reduces the park’s dam capacity by 21%. The results show that the potential for beaver to offset some expected climatic-induced changes to the boreal water cycle is more complex than previously thought, as there is a feedback wherein dam capacity can be reduced by changing environmental conditions.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery (RGPIN-2017-05873); CREATE (463960-2015) programen_US
dc.description.versionPeer Revieweden_US
dc.identifier.citationStoll, NL., Westbrook, C.J. Beaver dam capacity of Canada’s boreal plain in response to environmental change. Sci Rep 10, 16800 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73095-zen_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1038/s41598-020-73095-z
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10388/14742
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherSpringer Natureen_US
dc.rightsAttribution 2.5 Canada*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ca/*
dc.subjectBoreal ecologyen_US
dc.subjectClimate-change impactsen_US
dc.subjectEcological modellingen_US
dc.subjectHydrologyen_US
dc.subjectHydrologyen_US
dc.titleBeaver dam capacity of Canada’s boreal plain in response to environmental changeen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Stoll-Westbrook2020.pdf
Size:
5.16 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
2.28 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description: