The Ecology and Evolution of Beavers: Ecosystem Engineers That Ameliorate Climate Change
| dc.contributor.author | Fairfax, Emily | |
| dc.contributor.author | Westbrook, Cherie | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-11-17T23:15:38Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-11-17T23:15:38Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024-10-09 | |
| dc.description | Copyright © 2024 by the author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See credit lines of images or other third-party material in this article for license information. | |
| dc.description.abstract | 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. | |
| dc.description.version | Peer Reviewed | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Fairfax, E., & Westbrook, C. (2024). The ecology and evolution of Beavers: Ecosystem Engineers that ameliorate climate change. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 55(1), 323–345. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-102722-122317 | |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-102722-122317 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10388/16257 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Annual Reviews | |
| dc.rights | Attribution 2.5 Canada | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ca/ | |
| dc.subject | beaver | |
| dc.subject | Castor | |
| dc.subject | climate change | |
| dc.subject | ecosystem engineer | |
| dc.subject | resilience | |
| dc.subject | wetlands | |
| dc.title | The Ecology and Evolution of Beavers: Ecosystem Engineers That Ameliorate Climate Change | |
| dc.type | Article |