“Beavers are remarkable animals that engineer the landscape by building dams and transforming linear streams into a series of ponds. The impact of this engineering on lowland ecosystems is widely recognized in temperate regions. But beavers are now moving from the forest into arctic tundra regions, where their extent and impacts are unknown.”
Permafrost also holds large amounts of carbon. And the beavers’ reengineering of the landscape can change the hydrology creating instability in the layers of carbon.
Streams on the Alaskan tundra maintain a stable low temperature. And deep pond water created by the large rodents increases water temperatures in the winter.
Tape and his team of researchers published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports in May. And Tape presented the research to the American Geophysical Union in December.
Tape’s team is sure the beaver ponds are thawing the surrounding permafrost and impacting the climate crisis. They just aren’t sure exactly how much damage is taking place. But it looks like a lot from space.
