Abstract
Riparian ecosystems are of utmost importance for many key ecosystem services, such as nutrient filtering or flood and erosion control. Restoring degraded riverbanks using soil bioengineering techniques initiates secondary succession improving both protection from erosion and riparian ecological functions. These techniques often rely on the settlement of Salicaceae and sometimes Tamaricaceae species that can be strongly impacted by beaver browsing. During the last decade European beaver (Castor fiber) populations have largely grown in France and can thus impact restored riverbanks, leading practitioners to adapt their management strategy. We conducted a study to assess the feeding preference of C. fiber and their browsing spatial pattern in semi natural riverbanks in the French Alps (Isère, France) by measuring browsing impacts along a transect. Our results indicate selective browsing occurrences at two nested spatial scales: firstly, beavers create large preferentially browsed patches (~ 8 m diameter) secondly, at a finer scale within these patches, they demonstrate a selective browsing between plant species. Among the species used in soil bioengineering, Myricaria germanica showed the lower browsing selectivity with only 2.5% of browsing probability while Salix eleagnos and Salix purpurea (10%) and Populus nigra, Salix daphnoides and Salix alba (20%) showed significant higher selectivity by beaver. Our results suggest that within the beaver presence area soil bioengineering techniques should consider adjusting both the composition and the spatial pattern of plant species settlement to mitigate the impacts of beaver on restored riverbanks.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adler PB, Raff DA, Lauenroth WK (2001) The effect of grazing on the spatial heterogeneity of vegetation. Oecologia 128(4):465–479
Breton V, Forestier O, Guindon O, Evette A (2014) Ecological restoration under pressure from invasive animal species: use of Salicaceae cuttings in a river overrun by coypu. River Res Appl 30(8):1002–1012
Bryant JP (1987) Feltleaf willow-snowshoe hare interactions: plant carbon/nutrient balance and floodplain succession. Ecology 68(5):1319–1327
Cavaillé P, Ducasse L, Breton V, Dommanget F, Tabacchi E, Evette A (2015) Functional and taxonomic plant diversity for riverbank protection works: bioengineering techniques close to natural banks and beyond hard engineering. J Environ Manage 151:65–75
Clerici N, Vogt P (2013) Ranking European regions as providers of structural riparian corridors for conservation and management purposes. Int J Appl Earth 21:477–483
Dale MRT (1999) Spatial pattern analysis in plant ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, p 326
Decamps H (2002) Wise use of riparian woods - Du bon usage des ripisylves. La Houille Blanche 3:49–53
Décamps H, Pinay G, Naiman RJ, Petts GE, McClain ME, Hillbricht-Ilkowska A, Hanley TA, Holmes RM, Quinn J, Gibert J, Planty Tabacchi AM, Schiemer F, Tabacchi E, Zalewski M (2004) Riparian zones: where biogeochemistry meets biodiversity in management practice. Pol J Ecol 52:3–18
Development Core Team, R.R. 2013. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing
Dumont B, Rossignol N, Loucougaray G, Carrère P, Chadoeuf J, Fleurance G, Bonis A, Farruggia A, Gaucherand S, Ginane C, Louault F, Marion B, Mesléard F, Yavercovski N (2012) When does grazing generate stable vegetation patterns in temperate pastures? Agr Ecosystems Environ 153:50–56
Erome G, Broyer J (1984) Analyse des relations castor vegetation. Bièvre 6(1):15–63
Fustec J, Lode T, Le Jacques D, Cormier JP (2001) Colonization, riparian habitat selection and home range size in a reintroduced population of European beavers in the Loire. Freshwater Biol 46(10):1361–1371
Gerwing TG, Johnson CJ, Alström-Rapaport C (2013) Factors influencing forage selection by the North American beaver (Castor canadensis). Mamm Biol 78:79–86
Haarberg O, Rosell F (2006) Selective foraging on woody plant species by the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) in Telemark. Norway J Zool 270(2):201–208
Jones KB, Slonecker ET, Nash MS, Neale AC, Wade TG, Hamann S (2010) Riparian habitat changes across the continental United States (1972–2003) and potential implications for sustaining ecosystem services. Landscape Ecol 25(8):1261–1275
Koch C, Kollmann J (2012) Clonal re-introduction of endangered plant species: the case of German false tamarisk in pre-Alpine Rivers. Environ Manage 50:217–225
Kudrnovsky H (2013) Alpine rivers and their ligneous vegetation with Myricaria germanica and riverine landscape diversity in the Eastern Alps: proposing the Isel river system for the Natura 2000 network. Eco mont 5(1):5–18
Kuzovkina YA, Volk TA (2009) The characterization of willow (Salix L) varieties for use in ecological engineering applications: Co-ordination of structure, function and autecology. Ecol Eng 35(8):1178–1189
Lamoot I, Meert C, Hoffmann M (2005) Habitat use of ponies and cattle foraging together in a coastal dune area. Biol Conserv 122:523–536
Lavaine C, Evette A, Piégay H (2015) European Tamaricaceae in bioengineering on Dry soils. Environ Manage 56:221–232
Lavaine, C., A. Evette, H. Piégay, B. Lachat and P. Brahic (2011) Le génie végétal s’applique-t-il aux berges de cours d’eau soumises à des sécheresses estivales ? Les Tamaricaceae ont-elles un potentiel ? SET Hors série
Law A, Bunnefeld N, Willby J (2014) Beavers and lilies: selective herbivory and adaptive foraging behavior. Fresh Biol 59:224–232
Lenth, R. V., & Hervé, M. (2015). lsmeans: Least-squares means. R package version, 2(17)
McFadden D (1979) Quantitative methods for analysing travel behaviour of individuals: some recent developments. In: Hensher DA, Stopher PR (eds) Behavioural travel modeling. Croom Helm, London, pp 279–318
Moore BD, Sim DA, Lason GR (2013) The Scottish beaver trial: woodland monitoring 2011. Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report, Inverness
Naiman RJ, Decamps H, Pollock M (1993) The role of Riparian corridors in maintaining regional biodiversity. Ecol Appl 3(2):209–212
Newsholme C (1992) Willows: the genus Salix. Batsford, London
Nolet BA, Rosell F (1998) Comeback of the beaver Castor fiber: an overview of old and new conservation problems. Biol conserv 83(2):165–173
Palmer MA, Richardson CD (2009) Provisioning services: a focus on fresh water. In: Levin SA (ed) The Princeton guide to ecology. Princeton, Princeton Princeton University Press, pp 625–633
Palo RT (1984) Distribution of birch, willow and poplar secondary metabolites and their potential role as chemical defense against herbivores. J Chem Ecol 10(3):499–520
Pautou G, Peiry J-L, Girel J, Blanchard E, Hughes F, Richards K, Harris T, El-Hames A (1997) Space-time units in floodplains: the example of the Drac River upstream of Grenoble (French Alps). Global Ecol Biogeogr 6:311–319
Raffel TR, Smith N, Cortright C, Gatz AJ (2009) Central place foraging by beavers (Castor canadensis) in a complex lake habitat. Am Midl Nat 162(1):62–73
Ruys T, Lorvelec O, Marre A, Bernez I (2011) River management and habitat characteristics of three sympatric aquatic rodents: common muskrat, coypu and European beaver. Eur J Wildlife Res 57(4):851–864
Szabo P, Meszena G (2007) Multi-scale regulated plant community dynamics: mechanisms and implications. Oikos 116:233–240
Sitzia T, Michielon B, Iacopino S, Kotze DJ (2016) Population dynamics of the endangered shrub Myricaria germanica in a regulated Alpine river is influenced by active channel width and distance to check dams. Ecol Eng 95:828–838
USDA (2007) Stream restoration design handbook (National Engineering Handbook, 210-VI, Part 654). United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Washington, DC
Wright J, Jones C, Flecker A (2002) An ecosystem engineer, the beaver, increases species richness at the landscape scale. Oecologia 132(1):96–101
Acknowledgements
Authors thank the Réserve Naturelle Régionale des Isles du Drac for their help in fieldwork.
Funding
Irstea – Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l’environnement et l'agriculture, 2, rue de la Papeterie BP 76, 38402 Saint Martin d'Hères Cedex.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Piton, G., Loucougaray, G., Daumergue, N. et al. The beaver’s menu: species and spatial selection of a European beaver population and implications for riverbank bioengineering. Wetlands Ecol Manage 28, 901–908 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-020-09754-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-020-09754-9