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Comparing the Sources of Sediment Retained by Beaver Dams and Beaver Dam Analogs

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dc.contributor.authorWestbrook, Cherie
dc.contributor.authorCooper, David J.
dc.date.accessioned2024-11-17T18:24:03Z
dc.date.available2024-11-17T18:24:03Z
dc.date.issued2024-10-14
dc.description© 2024. The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
dc.description.abstractBeavers modify riverine systems by building dams that alter downstream fluxes of water and sediment. Where beavers have been lost and stream channels degraded, beaver dam analogs (BDAs) are being used to mimic the effects of beaver engineering. Central to the success of these structures in accelerating stream recovery is creating similar ecosystem responses as beaver dams including sediment retention. Unknown is the relative importance of beaver actions versus erosion in the catchment in generating the retained sediment. This study tested the viability of sediment fingerprinting to determine the source of sediment retained by beaver dams and BDAs in a watershed in Alberta, Canada. Concentrations of 29 elements were measured as potential tracers from known sediment sources: upland, terrace, stream bank, and beaver canal. Virtual mixture tests, used to compare the computed source estimates with known source mixtures, revealed that sediment fingerprinting is a robust method for identifying sources of sediment retained by beaver ponds and BDAs. The un-mixing model results indicate that on average 56% of the sediment retained by the beaver dams originated from terraces, 23% from uplands, and 13% from beaver canals. About 89% of sediment retained by the BDAs originated from eroding stream banks. We conclude that the geomorphic effects of beavers and their dams are more diverse, resulting in more diverse sources of sediment retained by their dams. This differentiates beaver dams from BDAs. The study has implications for informing management practices that involve beavers and beaver mimicry.
dc.description.sponsorshipNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Grant Numbers: RGPIN-2017-05873, RGPIN-2022-03681, 463960-2015 Alberta Innovates. Grant Number: 222301214 Canada First Research Excellence Fund. Grant Number: CFREF-2015-00010
dc.description.versionPeer Reviewed
dc.identifier.citationWestbrook, C. J., & Cooper, D. J. (2024).Comparing the sources of sedimentretained by beaver dams and beaver damanalogs. Water Resources Research, 60,e2024WR037717. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR037717
dc.identifier.doi10.1029/2024WR037717
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10388/16256
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherWiley
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canadaen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/
dc.subjectSediment fingerprinting
dc.subjectbeaver dams
dc.subjectbeaver dam analogs (BDAs)
dc.subjectsediment composition
dc.titleComparing the Sources of Sediment Retained by Beaver Dams and Beaver Dam Analogs
dc.typeArticle

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