CC No. 2
Fun-A-Day Drawing: Jan 26, 2013
Ecological Engineer Series, Castor Canadensis No. 2
Pencil, colored pencil, pen, carbon transfer on paper
8.5” X 11”
Beavers are ecosystem engineers in that their two principle activities, their construction of dams and their foraging, can profoundly change channel “geomorphology and consequently the hydrological characteristics and biotic properties of their landscape” (Rosell et al. 2005, MacDowell and Neiman 1986). Beavers create ponds that alter a series of resources used by other organisms (Neiman et al. 1986, Jones et al. 1994). In the creation of ponds beavers in effect “change, maintain, and create habitat by modulating the availability of resources of both biotic and abiotic materials for themselves and for other species” (Jones et al. 1994). This modulation of resources has profound ecological effects and has the power to transform landscapes on a large scale