Skip to main content
Log in

Factors Affecting Abundance of Beaver Dams in Forested Landscapes

Wetlands Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Beavers are ecosystem engineers that contribute to landscape heterogeneity in North American boreal forests. Despite the importance of beavers on landscapes, beaver distribution is still poorly understood, particularly at large spatial scales and in different ecoregions. The goal of our study was to determine the main environmental features affecting beaver dam abundance across ecoregions. We quantified the spatial distribution of beaver dams in Quebec forests using 257 systematically distributed provincial forestry maps, in which we sampled 1025 plots of 25 km2 in an area several orders of magnitude larger than in previous studies. The study area, covering over 300,000 km2, spanned over six ecoregions (Appalachians, Meridional Laurentians, Central Laurentians, Abitibi and James Bay Lowlands, Mistassini, and Anticosti Island). We constructed 17 candidate regression models using a negative binomial distribution with variables based on different hypotheses to explain beaver dam abundance. The mean stream gradient was the top variable influencing dam abundance, followed by the cover of non-forested land. However, there was substantial variability among ecoregions, as the models that included the random effect of hardwood cover and non-forested cover ranked higher than models without these variables. We conclude that such regional variation in factors affecting dam distribution patterns should be taken into account when establishing beaver management plans.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen AW (1983) Habitat suitability index models: beaver. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Biological Report. FWS/OBS-82/10.30, p. 20

  • Aznar JC, Desrochers A (2008) Building for the future: abandoned beaver ponds promote bird diversity. Ecoscience 15:250–257. doi:10.2980/15-2-3107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker BW, Hill EP (2003) Beaver (Castor canadensis). In: Feldhamer, G. A., Thompson, B. C. And chapman, J. A. (eds.), wild mammals of North America: biology, management, and conservation. 2nd edn. Johns Hopkins University press, pp. 288–290

  • Barnes WJ, Dibble E (1988) The effects of beaver in riverbank forest succession. Canadian Journal of Botany 66:40–44. doi:10.1139/b88-005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnes DM, Mallik AU (1997) Habitat factors influencing beaver dam establishment in a northern Ontario watershed. Journal of Wildlife Management 61:1371–1377. doi:10.2307/3802140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bates D, Maechler M, Bolker B, Walker S (2015) Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software 67:1–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beauchesne P, Ducruc JP, Gérardin V (1996) Ecological mapping: a framework for delimiting forest management units. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 39:173–186. doi:10.1007/BF00396143

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beier P, Barrett RH (1987) Beaver habitat use and impact in truckee river basin, California. Journal of Wildlife Management 51:794–799. doi:10.2307/3801743

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bordage D, Lepage C, Orichefsky S (2003) Inventaire en hélicoptère du Plan conjoint sur le canard noir au Québec - Printemps 2003. - Service canadien de la faune - Région du Québec, p. 26

  • Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2002) Model selection and multimodel inference: a practical information-theoretic approach, 2nd edn. Springer-Verlag, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler RD, Malanson GP (1995) Sedimentation rates and patterns in beaver ponds in a mountain environment. Geomorphology 13:255–269. doi:10.1016/0169-555X(95)00031-Y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CCE (1997) Ecological regions of North America, toward a common perspective. In: Commission for Environmental Cooperation. Communications and Public Outreach, Department of the CEC Secretariat

    Google Scholar 

  • Curtis PD, Jensen PG (2004) Habitat features affecting beaver occupancy along roadsides in New York state. Journal of Wildlife Management 68:278–287. doi:10.2193/0022-541X(2004)068[0278:HFABOA]2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dieter DC, McCabe RT (1989) Factors influencing beaver lodge-site selection on a prairie river. The American Midland Naturalist 122:408–411. doi:10.2307/2425928

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dussault C, Courtois R, Huot J, Ouellet JP (2001) The use of forest maps for the description of wildlife habitats: limits and recommendations. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 31:1227–1234. doi:10.1139/x01-038

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ESRI (2009) ArcGIS v 9.3. ESRI, Environmental Systems Research Institute ESRI, Redlands, CA

  • Flynn NJ (2006) Spatial associations of beaver ponds and culverts in boreal headwater streams. University of Alberta, Dissertation

    Google Scholar 

  • Fortin C, Laliberté M, Ouzilleau J (2001) Guide d'aménagement et de gestion du territoire utilisé par le castor au Québec. - Fondation de la faune du Québec

  • Gangloff MM (2013) Taxonomic and ecological tradeoffs associated with small dam removals. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 23:475–480. doi:10.1002/aqc.2383

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelman A, Hill J (2006) Data analysis using regression and multilevel/hierarchical models. Cambridge University Press, New York, USA

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gerwing GT, Johnson JC, Alström-Rapapaport C (2013) Factors influencing forage selection by the North American beaver (Castor canadensis). Mammalian Biology 78:79–86. doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2012.07.157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Government of Canada. Natural Resources Canada, Earth Sciences Sector, Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation. Canadian Digital Elevation Data (CDED) 1:250 000. Ottawa: Natural Resources Canada, Geomatics Canada, 2000

  • Hood GA, Bayley SE (2008) Beaver (Castor canadensis) mitigate the effects of climate on the area of open water in boreal wetlands in western Canada. Biological Conservation 141:556–567. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2007.12.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howard RJ, Larson JS (1985) A stream habitat classification system for beaver. Journal of Wildlife Management 49:19–25. doi:10.2307/3801833

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jakes AF, Snodgrass JW, Burger J (2007) Castor canadensis (beaver) impoundment associated with geomorphology of southeastern streams. Southeastern Naturalist 6:271–282. doi:10.1656/1528-7092(2007)6[271:CCBIAW]2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins SH (1979) Seasonal and year-to-year differences in food selection by beavers. Oecologia 44:112–116. doi:10.1007/BF00346408

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins SH (1980) A size-distance relation in food selection by beavers. Ecology 61:740–746. doi:10.2307/1936743

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen PG, Curtis PD, Lehnert ME, Hamelin DL (2001) Habitat and structural factors influencing beaver interference with highway culverts. Wildlife Society Bulletin 29:654–664

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnston CA, Naiman RJ (1987) Boundary dynamics at the aquatic-terrestrial interface: the influence of beaver and geomorphology. Landscape Ecology 1:47–57. doi:10.1007/BF02275265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnston CA, Naiman RJ (1990) Browse selection by beaver: effects on riparian forest composition. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 20:1036–1043. doi:10.1139/x90-138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones CG, Lawton JH, Shachak M (1994) Organisms as ecosystem engineers. Oikos 69:373–386. doi:10.2307/3545850

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karraker NE, Gibbs JP (2009) Amphibian production in forested landscapes in relation to wetland hydroperiod: a case study of vernal pools and beaver ponds. Biological Conservation 142:2293–2302. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2009.05.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lemelin LV, Darveau M, Imbeau L, Bordage D (2007) Local, short-term effects of forest harvesting on breeding waterfowl and common loon in forest-dominated landscapes of Quebec. Avian conservation and ecology 2:10. [online] URL: http://www.ace-eco.org/vol2/iss2/556 art10/

  • Lemelin LV, Darveau M, Imbeau L, Bordage D (2010) Wetland use and selection by breeding waterbirds in the boreal forest of Quebec, Canada. Wetlands 30:321–332. doi:10.1007/s13157-010-0024-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li T, Ducruc JP (1999) Les provinces naturelles. Niveau I du cadre écologique de référence du Québec. Ministère de l’Environnement

  • Malison RL, Eby LA, Stanford JA (2014) Juvenile salmonid growth, survival, and production in a large river floodplain modified by beavers (Castor Canadensis). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 72:1639–1651. doi:10.1139/cjfas-2015-0147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall IB, Schut PH, Ballard M (1999) Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, research branch, Centre for Land and Biological Resources Research, and Environment Canada, state of the environment directorate. Ecozone Analysis Branch, Ottawa/Hull

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazerolle MJ (2016) AICcmodavg: model selection and multimodel inference based on (Q)AIC(c). R package version 2:0–4 http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=AICcmodavg

    Google Scholar 

  • McCall TC, Hodgman TP, Diefenbach DR, Owen RB (1996) Beaver populations and their relation to wetland habitat and breeding waterfowl in Maine. Wetlands 16:163–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McComb WC, Sedell JR, Buchholz TD (1990) Dam-site selection by beavers in an eastern Oregon Basin. Great Basin Nat 50:273–281

    Google Scholar 

  • McCullagh P, Nelder JA (1989) Generalized linear models, 2nd edn. Chapman and Hall, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McGinley MA, Whitham TG (1985) Central place foraging by beavers (Castor canadensis): a test of foraging predictions and the impact of selective feeding on the growth form of cottonwoods (Populus fremontii). Oecologia 66:558–562

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ménard S, Darveau M, Imbeau L (2013) The importance of geology, climate and anthropogenic disturbances in shaping boreal wetland and aquatic landscape types. Ecoscience 20:399–410. doi:10.2980/20-4-3628

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meunier G, LeBlanc MC, Darveau M, Bouchard CM, Imbeau L (2009) Les milieux d’eau profonde, humides et forestiers riverains de la Forêt d’enseignement et de recherche du lac Duparquet. Canards Illimités Canada, Série de rapports techniques No. Q16, Québec, Québec

  • Milligan HE, Humphries MM (2010) The importance of aquatic vegetation in beaver diets and the seasonal and habitat specificity of aquatic-terrestrial ecosystem linkages in a subarctic environment. Oikos 119:1877–1886. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18160.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ministère des Ressources naturelles de la Faune et des Parcs. 1999. Base de données topographiques du Québec (BDTQ) à l'échelle de 1/20 000 - Normes de production - Version 1.0. Rapport RN99–2014, Ministère des Ressources naturelles de la Faune et des Parcs, Québec

  • Naiman RJ, Johnston CA, Kelley JC (1988) Alteration of North American streams by beaver. Bioscience 38:753–762. doi:10.2307/1310784

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nummi P, Holopainen S (2014) Whole-community facilitation by beaver: ecosystem engineer increases waterbird diversity. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 24:623–633. doi:10.1002/aqc.2437

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pollock MM, Beechie TJ et al (2014) Using beaver dams to restore incised stream. Bioscience 64:279–290. doi:10.1093/biosci/biu036

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2015) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. ISBN 3–900051–07-0, URL http://www.R-project.org

  • Slough BG, Sadleir RMFS (1977) A land capability classification system for beaver (Castor canadensis Kuhl). Canadian Journal of Zoology 55:1324–1335

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snodgrass JW, Meffe GK (1998) Influence of beavers on stream fish assemblages: effects of pond age and watershed position. Ecology 79:928–942. doi:10.2307/176590

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens CE, Paszkowski CA, Foote AL (2007) Beaver (Castor canadensis) as a surrogate species for conserving anuran amphibians on boreal streams in Alberta, Canada. Biological Conservation 134:1–13. doi:10.1016/jbiocon.2006.07.017

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sturtevant BR (1998) A model of wetland vegetation dynamics in simulated beaver impoundments. Ecological Modelling 112:195–225. doi:10.1016/S0304-3800(98)00079-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suzuki N, McComb WC (1998) Habitat classification models for beaver (Castor canadensis) in the streams of the Central Oregon coast range. Northwest Science 72:102–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson S, Vehkaoja M, Nummi P (2016) Beaver-created deadwood dynamics in the boreal forest. Forest Ecology and Management 360:1–8. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2015.10.019

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by the Black Duck Joint Venture, the Canadian Boreal Initiative, Ducks Unlimited Canada, and the Fondation de l’Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue. The Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife (now Ministry of Forests, Wildlife, and Parks) provided forestry maps. Julie Labbé benefited from a Master’s Industrial scholarship – BMP Innovation granted by the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and Ducks Unlimited Canada. We thank C. Dussault and M.-H. Saint-Laurent for commenting on an earlier version of the manuscript, and J. Beaulieu, S. Picard and K. Boisvert for their help with GIS analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mathilde Lapointe St-Pierre.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOCX 79 kb)

ESM 2

(DOCX 83 kb)

ESM 3

(DOCX 104 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

St-Pierre, M.L., Labbé, J., Darveau, M. et al. Factors Affecting Abundance of Beaver Dams in Forested Landscapes. Wetlands 37, 941–949 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-017-0929-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-017-0929-x

Keywords

Navigation