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Earth Science

As the Arctic Warms, Beavers Are Moving In (arstechnica.com) 65

It began decades ago, with a few hardy pioneers slogging north across the tundra. It's said that one individual walked so far to get there that he rubbed the skin off the underside of his long, flat tail. Today, his kind have homes and colonies scattered throughout the tundra in Alaska and Canada -- and their numbers are increasing. Beavers have found their way to the far north. From a report: It's not yet clear what these new residents mean for the Arctic ecosystem, but concerns are growing, and locals and scientists are paying close attention. Researchers have observed that the dams beavers build accelerate changes already in play due to a warming climate. Indigenous people are worried the dams could pose a threat to the migrations of fish species they depend on.

"Beavers really alter ecosystems," says Thomas Jung, senior wildlife biologist for Canada's Yukon government. In fact, their ability to transform landscapes may be second only to that of humans: Before they were nearly extirpated by fur trappers, millions of beavers shaped the flow of North American waters. In temperate regions, beaver dams affect everything from the height of the water table to the kinds of shrubs and trees that grow. Until a few decades ago, the northern edge of the beaver's range was defined by boreal forest, because beavers rely on woody plants for food and material to build their dams and lodges. But rapid warming in the Arctic has made the tundra more hospitable to the large rodents: Earlier snowmelt, thawing permafrost and a longer growing season have triggered a boom in shrubby plants like alder and willow that beavers need. Aerial photography from the 1950s showed no beaver ponds at all in Arctic Alaska. But in a recent study, Ken Tape, an ecologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, scanned satellite images of nearly every stream, river and lake in the Alaskan tundra and found 11,377 beaver ponds.

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As the Arctic Warms, Beavers Are Moving In

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  • Post10! Calling post10!

  • SHAME ON YOU I say ! SHAME !

  • Do they not remember what happened to Beaver College?
  • ...for the fur business to start back up.

  • As the article says (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Viol8 ( 599362 ) on Monday December 05, 2022 @09:38AM (#63103862) Homepage

    Beavers were around in their millions probably for millions of years before humans rocked up and almost exterminated them along with the Buffalo. I suspect the vast majority of benefits will be positive. As for causing melting, I suspect the lakes will actually provide a heat barrier for the permafrost in the increasing hot summers.

    • by Layzej ( 1976930 )

      I suspect the lakes will actually provide a heat barrier for the permafrost in the increasing hot summers.

      Are you sure that warm (>0C) lake water wouldn't lead to further melt in permafrost?

    • by hunky-d ( 851885 )
      Unfortunately the natural ponds and wetlands, in many cases, are draining because the permafrost melts out from areas previously blocking their drainage. Lost a nice pond behind our house because of this.. a place red-throated loons used to nest, and a great little ice skating rink in the winter. https://www.biologicaldiversit... [biologicaldiversity.org] Can't blame the beavers for everything - when it is the climate catastrophe driving the bus.
  • We must fight back. Beavers must be crushed!
  • by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Monday December 05, 2022 @09:58AM (#63103922)

    Castorforming nature is their raison d'être.

  • by hunter44102 ( 890157 ) on Monday December 05, 2022 @10:00AM (#63103934)
    Nobody talks about the positives to warming Less natural gas and heating oil usage. Cars are more efficient in warmer temperatures. Less winter clothing and blankets need to be produced.
    • by Viol8 ( 599362 ) on Monday December 05, 2022 @10:30AM (#63104020) Homepage

      Give your Good News to people on the equator who even this year have had to endure 50C+ in some areas such as Iraq along with failing monsoons.

      • God is punishing them. We have to do our part by creating C02, or God will punish us.
      • by e3m4n ( 947977 )
        Ive been there... its always been a big giant ash tray. To quote Sam Kinison, "see this? this is sand.... you know what its going to be in a thousand years? ITS GONNA BE SAND! WE HAVE DESERTS IN AMERICA TOO! WE JUST DONT LIVE IN THEM ASSHOLE!"
      • Give your Good News to people on the equator who even this year have had to endure 50C+ in some areas such as Iraq along with failing monsoons.

        We've had objectively a lot more storms and turbulent weather. It looks like you're just trolling, but for the rest of the folks here who haven't read up on this, even if you're in a cold climate, do you like hurricanes? Do you like more storms?...more floods?...or maybe you're in Wisconsin, far from the Ocean....I hope you don't depend on any business on the coasts of any continent!!!! I hope you don't rely on stuff shipped across the ocean!

        Winter sucks, but global warming sucks more. Oooh, you got o

      • Add to that residents of Pacific Island nations who are having to abandon their ancestral homelands due to rising sea levels.
    • Cars are more efficient in warmer temperatures...

      WTF are you smoking??

      • Yes it's absolutely true I was a hypermiler that tracked mileage and shared in many forums. An easy Google search "Cold weather and winter driving conditions can reduce your fuel economy significantly. Fuel economy tests show that, in city driving, a conventional gasoline car's gas mileage is roughly 15% lower at 20ÂF than it would be at 77ÂF. It can drop as much as 24% for short (3- to 4-mile) trips."
        • ...winter driving conditions can reduce your fuel economy significantly.

          I'm guessing you're talking about pushing tires through snow... but you clearly lack both actual experience as well as theoretical knowledge (intake charges, air/fuel ratios, engine efficiencies, etc).

          Just quit while you're ahead.

          • Engine and transmission friction increases in cold temperatures due to cold engine oil and other drive-line fluids. It takes longer for an engine to reach its most fuel-efficient temperature. This affects shorter trips more, since a vehicle spends more of a short trip at less-than-optimal temperatures. Heated seats, window defrosters, and heater fans use additional power. Warming up a vehicle before starting a trip lowers fuel economyâ"idling gets 0 miles per gallon. Colder air is denser, increasing ae
    • by q_e_t ( 5104099 )

      Less natural gas and heating oil usage.

      Fewer people live this far north compared to those in areas of North America where A/C is prevalent. So it means more A/C usage at a greater rate than the reduction in heating oil usage.

      Cars are more efficient in warmer temperatures.

      Are you sure?

      Less winter clothing and blankets need to be produced.

      But more deodorant in southern climes.

  • There's nothing worse than cold beaver.

    Cold beverages OTOH are a-okay.

  • ... apex species when we're gone. Power to 'em.
  • by argStyopa ( 232550 ) on Monday December 05, 2022 @10:53AM (#63104090) Journal

    Of course there are concerns. How can you be fearful unless there are "concerns" from "experts"?

    Notice that we don't hear much about the poor polar bears, who - we were told for decades - might go extinct due to climate change?

    https://climateataglance.com/c... [climateataglance.com]

    Oh yeah, they are at RECORD numbers since we've been counting them, having quadrupled since the 1950s.

    "Concerns"

    • Tell your denialist "it's fine" to the Alaskan crab industry that basically collapsed overnight.

    • by gtall ( 79522 )

      A warming tundra means a feed forward carbon cycle. By the way, take a look to drought map:

      https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu... [unl.edu]

      It's gotten slightly better than over the summer. The Plains are gearing up for another season of well-below average rainfall. This appears to be the 3rd year running for la Nina which generally means drying conditions for the Plains and West. While a 3rd year is not unheard of, it is still unusual. If it is the new normal, we can forget about agriculture in that part of

    • Re:Concerns? (Score:4, Informative)

      by jbengt ( 874751 ) on Monday December 05, 2022 @12:38PM (#63104460)
      climateataglance.com is a web site run by the Heartland Institute, a "free-market think tank", to promote their agenda against allowing the government to do anything about climate change. From Wikipedia on the Heartland Institute:

      Founded in 1984, it worked with tobacco company Philip Morris throughout the 1990s to attempt to discredit the health risks of secondhand smoke and lobby against smoking bans.

      That's not to say that everything in climateataglance.com is wrong, just that you have to take it with a grain of salt because it has a definite agenda, and that agenda ain't science.

      • you have to take it with a grain of salt because it has a definite agenda, and that agenda ain't science.

        I thought I'd be able to make a joke about the Salt Institute, which attempted to downplay the risks of high salt in food, but apparently it has dissolved [npr.org].

      • Every source has an agenda. That's obvious.
        Of course, we're only scrutinizing one sides' agenda.

  • by ElizabethGreene ( 1185405 ) on Monday December 05, 2022 @11:02AM (#63104124)

    These types of climate change examples are difficult to ignore. It's not just beavers pushing further North, Moose are migrating north too. What used to be thin stands of Birch that would grow a few inches a decade are now impenetrable thickets. There are non-obvious impacts too. Black flies, blowflies, and mosquito populations predate these animals (and humans) and their numbers are exploding faster than their prey.

    In terms of human impact, the season for snow machines is getting shorter. Here in the lower 48 we don't really understand the impact of that. Snowmobiles are an easy fast way to cross boggy muskeg terrain that are nigh-impassible the rest of the year. They also cross frozen lakes and rivers. There are rural communities across the Arctic that are only accessible by plane between break-up and freeze-up. We're not talking about a small land area either. These aren't small land areas, either. Alaska is more than double the size of Texas, and a good chunk of that is above the arctic circle.

    • There are colonies of black spruce that managed to get way north during the Medieval Warm period, but were trapped when that ended. The growing season was too short for their cones to mature. Is it now warm enough so they can reproduce by seed again?

      • I'm ignorant of this. You see a lot of black spruce on north-facing slopes in Canada, but I don't know if they get as far as the arctic circle.

        It's been a long time. Could they have survived that long?

        • "Black spruce generally has a moderate lifespan, although individuals at arctic treeline may be long-lived. Black spruces may live 250 [11,243] to 300 years on favorable lowland sites [11]. In Alberta, maximum recorded ages of black spruce were 200 to 250 years on upper foothills and 270 years in a low foothill bog (review by [245]). In Québec at arctic treeline, where most regeneration is from cloning, researchers dated the oldest stems within a clone at >2,000 years old. The oldest stems within a

  • by Moridineas ( 213502 ) on Monday December 05, 2022 @11:05AM (#63104134) Journal

    I had a very interesting conversation with an environmental studies professor recently. We were talking about the accelerating dam removal movement, particularly in the Western US. The removal of these older dams is almost universally portrated as a positive (for river health, for salmon, for native peoples, etc). There are also potential downsides for farmers, river navigability, and power generation.

    One of his takes was that the reversion of many of these rivers to their "natural" states may be rather overstated. Pre-European arrival, beavers were absolutely ubiquitous across North America, and almost ever tributary, river, creek, etc., was covered with beaver dams and ponds. He was still generally in favor of dam removal, but his take was much more ambivalent than I expected.

    I've lived within a 5 minute walk of a protected river area for about 15 years now. I regularly walked up and down about 4 miles worth of river frontage. I have seen signs of beavers before, but I had never seen a beaver dam until 4 months ago. The dam is maybe 40+ feet wide, and it's been absolutely awesome and amazing to watch it progress. Beavers had been completely eradicated in my state in the 1890s, and it's great to see them come back.

  • How are beavers building dams in the arctic when there are no trees? The true arctic is above the tree line. Maybe beavers have started to move further north, but I think the arctic is an exaggeration to fill some other narrative.
    • Obviously, these beavers are buying Canadian lumber.

      On a more serious note, this is actually addressed on the linked Websites. They're building dams out of shrubbery that's becoming more prevalent as the permafrost melts.
    • by q_e_t ( 5104099 )
      The arctic is defined by latitude, not whether or not there are trees.
  • More food for the polar bears

  • ...I'm worried about the beavers.

"The pathology is to want control, not that you ever get it, because of course you never do." -- Gregory Bateson

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