The Beaver: Natural History of a Wetlands Engineer

by Dietland Müller-Schwarze

Overview

Beavers can and do dramatically change the landscape. The beaver is a keystone species—their skills as foresters and engineers create and maintain ponds and wetlands that increase biodiversity, purify water, and prevent large-scale flooding. Biologists have long studied their daily and seasonal routines, family structures, and dispersal patterns. As human development encroaches into formerly wild areas, property owners and government authorities need new, nonlethal strategies for dealing with so-called nuisance beavers. At the same time, the complex behavior of beavers intrigues visitors at parks and other wildlife viewing sites because it is relatively easy to observe.

In an up-to-date, exhaustively illustrated, and comprehensive book on beaver biology and management, Dietland Müller-Schwarze gathers a wealth of scientific knowledge about both the North American and Eurasian beaver species. The Beaver is designed to satisfy the curiosity and answer the questions of anyone with an interest in these animals, from students who enjoy watching beaver ponds at nature centers to homeowners who hope to protect their landscaping. Photographs taken by the authors document every aspect of beaver behavior and biology, the variety of their constructions, and the habitats that depend on their presence.

Beaver facts:

•Just as individual beavers shape their immediate surroundings, so did the distribution of beavers across North America influence the paths of English and French explorers and traders. As a result of the fur trade, beavers were wiped out across large areas of the United States. Reintroduction efforts led to the widespread establishment of these resilient animals, and now they are found throughout North America, Europe, and parts of the southern hemisphere.

•Beaver meadows provided early settlers with level, fertile pastures and hayfields.

•Based on the fossil record, the smallest extinct beaver species were the size of a muskrat, and the largest may have reached the size of a black bear (five to six times as large as today's North American beavers). Beaver-gnawed wood has been found alongside the skeleton of a mastodon.

•Some beavers remain in the home lodge for an extra year to assist their parents in raising younger siblings. They feed, groom, and guard the newborn kits.

•In 1600, beaver ponds covered eleven percent of the upper Mississippi and Missouri Rivers' watershed above Thebes, Illinois. Restoring only 3 percent of the original wetlands might suffice to prevent catastrophic floods such as those in the early 1990s.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801450105
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	04/07/2011
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	580,673
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Dietland Muller-Schwarze is Professor of Environmental and Forest Biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He is the author of The Behavior of Penguins: Adapted to Ice and Tropics, Chemical Ecology of Vertebrates, and Hands-on Chemical Ecology.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Introduction xi

Part I The Organism

1 Now and Then: The Species, Including Fossils 2

2 Form, Weight, and Special Adaptations 11

3 Diving and Thermoregulation: From Land Mammal to Semiaquatic Design and Function 19

4 Energy Budget 24

Part II Behavior

5 Families as Social Units 30

6 Communication by Scent and Sound 39

7 Infrastructure: Dams, Lodges, Trails, and Canals 55

8 Beaver Time 64

9 Food Selection 68

Part III Populations

10 Reproduction, Development, and Life Expectancy 88

11 Population Densities and Dynamics 97

12 Finding a Home: Dispersal 110

Part IV Ecology

13 Where They Live and Why: Habitat Requirements 116

14 Mortality and Predators 123

15 Parasites and Diseases 129

16 Maker of Landscapes: Creating Habitat for Plants, Animals, and People 135

Part V Beaver and People: Conservation, Use, and Management

17 "Here before Christ": Fur Trade, the "Beaver Republic" (Hudson's Bay Company), and Fur Trapping Today 150

18 Reintroductions and Other Transplants 169

19 "Nuisance Beavers" Claim Their Land 178

20 Needed: An Ecosystems Engineer for Habitat Restoration and Other Services 184

21 Living with Beavers: Conservation and Proactive Management 191

Index 205

What People are Saying About This

Bernd Heinrich

"Beavers are keystone animals who have played a large role in shaping the American biosphere. They also drew the American map by luring the trappers and mountainmen into the wilderness, and so promoting westward expansion. Although once nearly eradicated because of a frivolous fashion for men's hats, they are now making a dramatic comeback. Their behavior and ecology are perhaps more familiar than those of any other of our native mammal species, yet no comprehensive and up-to-date modern scientific treatise about the beaver has been available. This concise yet comprehensive book fills a glaring gap in the literature about one of the most interesting and important species in the northern ecosystem."

From the Publisher

"Revered by naturalists, loved by children, and dreaded by golf course maintenance crews, the North American beaver is a charismatic, often controversial symbol of wildlife's resurgence in the human-altered landscape. For anyone keen to learn more about this species, this book is an excellent reference."

Valerius Geist

"The Beaver is a modern synthesis of the beaver's ecology. It is a pleasure to read. The prose is easy to follow, as is the logic, and the insights about the beaver's biology are enlightening. This book is most suitable for a broad audience and ought to enjoy a great following. For the technical reader there is a good reference section following each chapter, as there needs to be, since the book goes beyond natural history and also deals with contentious management issues. It is thus more than an introduction to an animal that played a very great role in the history of North America. This synthesis also poses challenges for the future. This book should not be missing from a wildlife manager's book shelf."

John Hadidian

"This book is a wonderful blend of natural and social history that satisfies all appetites in explaining the role and significance of beaver in contemporary landscapes. It is full of useful and relevant information about the return of nature's second best engineer and gives us a blueprint as to how we might work with these engaging animals to produce healthier and environmentally more sound environments, even in urban and suburban areas. I know of no better current source of information from which to learn about beaver and their ways as well as appreciate the complex history and relationship of people with these amazing animals."

Editorial Reviews

Anyone with an interest in observing the natural world would be hard pressed to come across evidence of beaver activity and not be filled with questions. What is the purpose of the elaborate dams that beavers build? How do beavers decide which trees to cut down? What effects do beavers have on other organisms' In this ambitious book, the authors attempt to answer these questions and more about the beaver.... It contains useful information for wildlife and land managers, mammalogists, ecologists, and anyone who has ever been curious about beavers and their effects on both landscapes and history.

Quarterly Review of Biology - Justin Wright

Everybody in the wildlife field knows about beavers and how they modify their environment by building lodges and dams and by cutting trees for food. However, for most people, the knowledge of beaver ecology stops there, and until now, books on beaver ecology were either outdated or too popularized. Times have changed, and this book comes to the rescue of those who wish to gain much greater insights into beaver ecology and behavior without having to read piles of scientific literature.... This is helped further by 50 clear photographs of beavers and their environment.... Overall, this is a must-have book for the beaver enthusiast and wildlife manager, or even for the history buff wishing to better understand the animal that put North America on the map.

Journal of Mammalogy

This book takes a comprehensive look at the behavior, natural history, and ecology of the North American and Eurasian species of beaver.... For wild animal population managers, zoologists, and naturalists, this book presents practical advice regarding beaver management and shows how the species can be an important ally in the restoration efforts of the wetlands. An intriguing book that many will enjoy reading. Nicely done.

Northeastern Naturalist

Among native North American mammals, none has had a more powerful influence on the history of North American than the beaver. Although the eclectic literature on the beaver is rich, it is scattered. This book is the first to provide a synthesis of that literature.... It discusses the biology of the beaver, its behavior, including building dams and canals, and population dynamics.... It is a major resource accessible to any interested reader. Illustrated with black-and-white photos and a colored photo insert, the book is a necessary addition to the shelves of wildlife, conservation ecology, natural history, and general libraries. Essential.

Choice

"This book is a wonderful blend of natural and social history that satisfies all appetites in explaining the role and significance of beaver in contemporary landscapes. It is full of useful and relevant information about the return of nature's second best engineer and gives us a blueprint as to how we might work with these engaging animals to produce healthier and environmentally more sound environments, even in urban and suburban areas. I know of no better current source of information from which to learn about beaver and their ways as well as appreciate the complex history and relationship of people with these amazing animals."

John Hadidian

"Revered by naturalists, loved by children, and dreaded by golf course maintenance crews, the North American beaver is a charismatic, often controversial symbol of wildlife's resurgence in the human-altered landscape. For anyone keen to learn more about this species, this book is an excellent reference."

From the Publisher

"Beavers are keystone animals who have played a large role in shaping the American biosphere. They also drew the American map by luring the trappers and mountainmen into the wilderness, and so promoting westward expansion. Although once nearly eradicated because of a frivolous fashion for men's hats, they are now making a dramatic comeback. Their behavior and ecology are perhaps more familiar than those of any other of our native mammal species, yet no comprehensive and up-to-date modern scientific treatise about the beaver has been available. This concise yet comprehensive book fills a glaring gap in the literature about one of the most interesting and important species in the northern ecosystem."

Bernd Heinrich

"The Beaver is a modern synthesis of the beaver's ecology. It is a pleasure to read. The prose is easy to follow, as is the logic, and the insights about the beaver's biology are enlightening. This book is most suitable for a broad audience and ought to enjoy a great following. For the technical reader there is a good reference section following each chapter, as there needs to be, since the book goes beyond natural history and also deals with contentious management issues. It is thus more than an introduction to an animal that played a very great role in the history of North America. This synthesis also poses challenges for the future. This book should not be missing from a wildlife manager's book shelf."

Valerius Geist