![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithBeavers are turning rivers into powerful carbon sinks
Beavers might be one of nature’s most unexpected allies in locking away carbon and fighting climate change.
Beavers may be unlikely climate heroes, but new research suggests they could play a powerful role in fighting climate change. By building dams and transforming streams into wetlands, these industrious animals dramatically reshape how carbon moves and is stored in landscapes. Over just 13 years, a beaver-engineered wetland in Switzerland stored over a thousand tonnes of carbon—up to ten times more than similar areas without beavers.
It's not just carbon. Beavers also greatly reduce the impact of droughts and wildfires by storing water in the environment over large areas. As ecosystem engineers, they create many more niches for other species to share the habitats they create -- fish, amphibians, aquatic invertebrates, weasels, minks, otters, wading birds, waterfowl, and so on. Crucially, they do all this work for free. All they need is space, saplings, and a thread of water. So if you see an opportunity for beaver restoration, jump on it.
Beavers might be one of nature’s most unexpected allies in locking away carbon and fighting climate change.
Beavers may be unlikely climate heroes, but new research suggests they could play a powerful role in fighting climate change. By building dams and transforming streams into wetlands, these industrious animals dramatically reshape how carbon moves and is stored in landscapes. Over just 13 years, a beaver-engineered wetland in Switzerland stored over a thousand tonnes of carbon—up to ten times more than similar areas without beavers.
It's not just carbon. Beavers also greatly reduce the impact of droughts and wildfires by storing water in the environment over large areas. As ecosystem engineers, they create many more niches for other species to share the habitats they create -- fish, amphibians, aquatic invertebrates, weasels, minks, otters, wading birds, waterfowl, and so on. Crucially, they do all this work for free. All they need is space, saplings, and a thread of water. So if you see an opportunity for beaver restoration, jump on it.
