Beavers are among the best ecosystem engineers. Their mighty chompers make quick work of trees, and the resulting logs dam up moving water to create swampy ponds. These changes to the landscape can open up important new habitats for all kinds of species, from amphibians to moose, within the beavers’ native range in North America.
“They are unique in this regard, in the ability to modify their habitat,” says Steve Windels, a wildlife biologist who studies beavers at Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota. They are second only to humans in their ability to completely change an ecosystem, he adds.
Beavers are such great engineers, in fact, that some wildlife and landscape managers are putting the rodents to work restoring wetlands and creating dams more efficiently than even human engineers. We’re also gaining a better appreciation of their ability to create habitats important for not only wildlife, but also human-made constructions such as fisheries and water management facilities. For example, they can control the excess flow of chemicals in some waterways — and recent research shows that beaver-created ponds are more resistant to wildfires.
