Beavers may help amphibians threatened by climate change

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-12/wsu-bmh120720.php

 

News Release 8-Dec-2020
Washington State University

VANCOUVER, Wash. - The recovery of beavers may have beneficial consequences for amphibians because beaver dams can create the unique habitats that amphibians need.

That finding was reported by four WSU Vancouver scientists in a paper published in the journal Freshwater Biology. The research took place in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest of the Cascade Range, where the researchers identified 49 study sites either with or without beaver dams. The researchers found the beaver-dammed sites were 2.7 times higher in amphibian species richness than the undammed sites.

Certain types of amphibians, particularly those that develop more slowly, such as red-legged frogs and northwestern salamanders, were detected almost exclusively in dammed sites.

"Beaver-dammed wetlands support more of the amphibian species that need a long time to develop in water as larvae before they are able to live on land as adults," said Jonah Piovia-Scott, assistant professor in the School of Biological Sciences and one of the authors of the article.

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