Beaver • Water • Ecosystem

Here we see a course of water. For a beaver this is enough. If the beaver builds a dam here, in two or three years from now this could be a pond or a lake. The animal can change an entire ecosystem just because its dam would hold water and rain. These natural beaver dams are very efficient to combat floods and droughts, as they regulate the flow of small watercourses. Locally, they can shape the forest by flooding parts of the forest causing the tree vegetation to die. When the beavers leave their dam and pond, a succession from pioneer forest to climax forest can start growing again after this reservoir has been drained.

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