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Beavers: Dam good for songbirds
October 09, 2008The songbird has a friend in the beaver. According to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the busy beaver's signature dams provide critical habitat for a variety of migratory songbirds, particularly in the semi-arid interior of the West.
The study, which appears in the October 2008 issue of the journal Western North American Naturalist, says that through dam building, beavers create ponds and stimulate growth of diverse streamside vegetation critical for birds, including many migratory songbirds in decline. The study found that the more dams beavers build, the more abundant and diverse local songbirds become.
"We found that increasing density of beaver dams was associated with a diverse and abundant bird community and the wetland and streamside habitat these species depend on," said Hilary Cooke, the study's lead author who is now finishing her dissertation at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. "This habitat is critical to birds in semi-arid regions yet has been severely degraded or lost through much of the West. Our results suggest that management of beavers may be an important tool for restoring habitat and reversing bird declines."
Beaver populations once numbered in the millions in the American West but dramatically collapsed due to the fur trade in the 1800s. Currently, beaver are often considered a pest species when they take down trees and flood property. Their influence is still missing on most watersheds in the West, yet this and other studies suggest that beaver are very important to wildlife and to reviving the natural function of streams.
"Beaver are an essential ecosystem engineer," said co-author Steve Zack of the Wildlife Conservation Society. "Beavers help repair degraded stream habitats and their dams and associated ponds recharge local water tables and create wetlands. With our changing climate likely to mean increasing droughts in the West, managing ways to allow watersheds to act more like sponges will be a challenge. Beaver are a powerful tool to be considered for that, and the associated benefits to other wildlife add to their value."
This study was part of a larger effort by WCS to identify how to restore wildlife to streamside habitats in the western U.S. This study occurred in Wyoming where beaver reintroductions have been done on both private and public lands with owner consent and interest.
In 2007, WCS made history with other beaver news when an active beaver lodge was discovered in the Bronx River on the grounds of the Bronx Zoo - the first one spotted in New York City in at least two centuries.
Wildlife Conservation Society
Beaver populations once numbered in the millions in the American West but dramatically collapsed due to the fur trade in the 1800s. Currently, beaver are often considered a pest species when they take down trees and flood property. Their influence is still missing on most watersheds in the West, yet this and other studies suggest that beaver are very important to wildlife and to reviving the natural function of streams.
"Beaver are an essential ecosystem engineer," said co-author Steve Zack of the Wildlife Conservation Society. "Beavers help repair degraded stream habitats and their dams and associated ponds recharge local water tables and create wetlands. With our changing climate likely to mean increasing droughts in the West, managing ways to allow watersheds to act more like sponges will be a challenge. Beaver are a powerful tool to be considered for that, and the associated benefits to other wildlife add to their value."
This study was part of a larger effort by WCS to identify how to restore wildlife to streamside habitats in the western U.S. This study occurred in Wyoming where beaver reintroductions have been done on both private and public lands with owner consent and interest.
In 2007, WCS made history with other beaver news when an active beaver lodge was discovered in the Bronx River on the grounds of the Bronx Zoo - the first one spotted in New York City in at least two centuries.
Wildlife Conservation Society
Conservation Society Current Events and Conservation Society News RSSA year after discovery, Congo's 'mother lode' of gorillas remains vulnerable
A new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society says that western lowland gorillas living in a large swamp in the Republic of Congo-part of the "mother lode" of more than 125,000 gorillas discovered last year-are becoming increasingly threatened by growing humans activity in the region.
Africa's rarest monkey had an intriguing sexual past, DNA study confirms
The most extensive DNA study to-date of Africa's rarest monkey reveals that the species had an intriguing sexual past. Of the last two remaining populations of the recently discovered kipunji, one population shows evidence of past mating with baboons while the other does not.
Whale-sized genetic study largest ever for southern hemisphere humpbacks
After 15 years of research in the waters of the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the American Museum of Natural History, and an international coalition of organizations have unveiled the largest genetic study of humpback whale populations ever conducted in the Southern Hemisphere.
Oil and wildlife don't mix in Ecuador's Eden
What harm can a simple road do in a pristine place such as Ecuador's Yasuni National Park, home to peccaries, tapirs, monkeys and myriad other wildlife species?
Arctic oil: A boon for nest predators
A new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other groups reveals how oil development in the Artic is impacting some bird populations by providing "subsidized housing" to predators, which nest and den around drilling infrastructure and supplement their diets with garbage - and nesting birds.
Tiny pump means pain relief for big cats
Veterinarians from the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo and the University of Tennessee have found a solution to the challenge of providing effective pain relief to some of their most difficult patients: big cats.
WCS study on birds and streams included in federal guidelines to safeguard waterways
The results of a Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) study that rapidly measures stream habitat have been adopted by a government agency working with private landowners to restore waterways throughout the U.S.
New hope for fisheries on the horizon?
Scientists have joined forces in a groundbreaking assessment on the status of marine fisheries and ecosystems.
Scientists assess flooding and damage from 2008 Myanmar cyclone
Tropical cyclone Nargis made landfall in the Asian nation of Myanmar on May 2, 2008, causing the worst natural disaster in the country's recorded history - with a death toll that may have exceeded 138,000.
Reintroduced Chinese alligators now multiplying in the wild in China
The Wildlife Conservation Society announced today that critically endangered alligators in China have a new chance for survival.
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