KNOWLEDGE BASE

Peat deposited in a beaver pond in Canada shows what life was like in the Early Pliocene, over 4 million years ago. Plant and beetle remains suggest temperatures were warmer then, with winters 15°C higher and summers 10°C higher than today. Mammal remains include species from Eurasia, among them a beaver-like creature who shared the modern beaver's behaviour of cutting saplings and building dams. Please note, this resource is not open-access.

This paper argues that human engineering practices have a lot to learn from non-human species such as beavers. Human engineering practices often disregard local ecosystem conditions; by studying the role beavers have in shaping habitats and community dynamics, human engineering can shift towards practices more in harmony with natural systems.

This paper explores ecological engineering through a lens of systems thinking. It highlights the difference between traditional engineering, where structures are purposefully designed, and ecological systems, which self-organize naturally. A case study on beavers is used to show how these ecological engineers operate at different scales simultaneously and adapt to changing environments to meet evolving ecological needs. The cost to the beavers is that this forces them to adapt their identity, something which traditional engineering would often find unacceptable. Please note, this resource is not open-access.

In an area of France where Eurasian beavers had recently arrived, researchers examined what characteristics made beavers more likely to settle and build lodges. They found that sites with no sandbank and less canopy cover were where beavers were more likely to build lodges. They also found that areas with greater human activity made beaver settlement less likely.

The study measured water and nutrient flow from nearby forested areas into beaver meadows in the USA. Researchers used a variety of ecological and computational methods, and share both the findings and methodological recommendations. There were inconclusive results about whether the concentrations of water and nutrient flow affected the distribution of plants across the meadow. Please note, this resource is not open-access.