Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-qxdb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T15:43:17.061Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Holocene beaver damming, fluvial geomorphology, and climate in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Lyman Persico  and
Grant Meyer
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We use beaver-pond deposits and geomorphic characteristics of small streams to assess long-term effects of beavers and climate change on Holocene fluvial activity in northern Yellowstone National Park. Although beaver damming has been considered a viable mechanism for major aggradation of mountain stream valleys, this has not been previously tested with stratigraphic and geochronologic data. Thirty-nine radiocarbon ages on beaver-pond deposits fall primarily within the last 4000 yr, but gaps in dated beaver occupation from ~ 2200–1800 and 950–750 cal yr BP correspond with severe droughts that likely caused low to ephemeral discharges in smaller streams, as in modern severe drought. Maximum channel gradient for reaches with Holocene beaver-pond deposits decreases with increasing basin area, implying that stream power limits beaver damming and pond sediment preservation. In northern Yellowstone, the patchy distribution and cumulative thickness of mostly < 2 m of beaver-pond deposits indicate that net aggradation forced by beaver damming is small, but beaver-enhanced aggradation in some glacial scour depressions is greater. Although 20th-century beaver loss and dam abandonment caused significant local channel incision, most downcutting along alluvial reaches of the study streams is unrelated to beaver dam abandonment or predates historic beaver extirpation.

Keywords

BeaverBeaver dammingCastor canadensisYellowstone National ParkWyomingGeomorphologyFluvial geomorphologyDroughtClimate changeHoloceneSmall streamsChannel incisionAggradation
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 71 , Issue 3 , May 2009 , pp. 340 - 353
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baker, B.W., Ducharme, H.C., Mitchell, D.C.S., Stanley, T.R., and Peinetti, H.R. Interaction of beaver and elk herbivory reduces standing crop of willow. Ecological Applications 15, (2005). 110 Google Scholar
Baker, R.G., Bettis, E.A. III, Schwert, D.P., Horton, D.G., Chumbley, C.A., Gonzalez, L.A., and Reagan, M.K. Holocene paleoenvironments of northeast Iowa. Ecological Monographs 66, (1996). 203–234.Google Scholar
Ballantyne, C.K. A general model of paraglacial landscape response. The Holocene 12, (2002). 371–376.Google Scholar
Balling, R.C., Meyer, G.A., and Wells, S.G. Climate change in Yellowstone National Park: is the drought-related risk of wildfires increasing?. Climate Change 22, (1992). 34–35.Google Scholar
Balling, R.C., Meyer, G.A., and Wells, S.G. Relation of surface climate and burned area in Yellowstone National Park. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 60, (1992). 285–293.Google Scholar
Bartos, D.L., Brown, J.K., and Booth, G.D. 12 years biomass response in aspen communities following fire. Journal of Range Management 47, (1994). 79–83.Google Scholar
Bartos, D.L., and Mueggler, W.F. Early succession in aspen communities following fire in western Wyoming. Journal of Range Management 34, (1981). 315–318.Google Scholar
Beier, P., and Barrett, R.H. Beaver habitat use and impact in Truckee River basin California. Journal of Wildlife Management 51, (1987). 794–797.Google Scholar
Bigler, W., Butler, D.R., and Dixon, R.W. Beaver-pond sequence morphology and sedimentation in northwestern Montana. Physical Geography 22, (2001). 531–540.Google Scholar
Birkeland, P.W. Soils and Geomorphology. (1999). Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Butler, D.R., and Malanson, G.P. Sedimentation rates and patterns in beaver ponds in a mountain environment. Geomorphology 13, (1995). 255–269.Google Scholar
Butler, D.R., and Malanson, G.P. The geomorphic influences of beaver dams and failures of beaver dams. Geomorphology 71, (2005). 48–60.Google Scholar
Chadde, S.W., and Kay, C.E. Tall-willow communities on Yellowstone's Northern Range: a test of the “natural-regulation” paradigm. Keiter, R.B., and Boyce, M.S. The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. (1991). Yale University Press, 231–263.Google Scholar
Christiansen, R. L., and Wahl, R. R., (1999). Digital geologic map of Yellowstone National Park, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming and vicinity. USGS Open File Report: OF 99-0174, http://greenwood.cr.usgs.gov/pub/open-file-reports/ofr-99-0174/.Google Scholar
Church, M., and Ryder, J.M. Paraglacial sedimentation: a consideration of fluvial processes conditioned by glaciation. Geological Society of America Bulletin 83, (1972). 3059–3072.Google Scholar
Cook, E.R., Esper, J., and D'Arrigo, R.D. Extra-tropical Northern Hemisphere land temperature variability over the past 1000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews 23, (2004). 2063–2074.Google Scholar
Cook, E.R., Woodhouse, C.A., Eakin, C.M., Meko, D.M., and Stahle, D.W. Long-term aridity changes in the western United States. Science 306, (2004). 1015–1018.Google Scholar
Curry-Lindahl, K. The beaver, Castor fiber Linnaeus, 1758 in Sweden — extermination and reappearance. Acta Theriologica 12, (1967). 1–15.Google Scholar
Dalquest, W.W., Stangl, F.B., and Kocurko, M.J. Zoogeographic implications of Holocene mammal remains from ancient beaver ponds in Oklahoma and New Mexico. Southwestern Naturalist 35, (1990). 105–110.Google Scholar
Folk, R.L. The distinction between grain size and mineral composition in sedimentary rock nomenclature. Journal of Geology 62, (1954). 344–359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gennett, J.A. A late Quaternary pollen sequence from Blacktail Pond, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, U.S.A. Palynology 10, (1986). 61–71.Google Scholar
Graumlich, L., Pisaric, M., Waggoner, L., Littell, J., and King, J. Upper Yellowstone River flow and teleconnections with Pacific basin climate variability during the past three centuries. Climatic Change 59, (2003). 245–262.Google Scholar
Hadly, E., (1995). Evolution, ecology, and taphonomy of Late-Holocene mammals from Lamar Cave, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Houston, D.B. The Northern Yellowstone Elk. (1982). Macmillan Publishing Company, New York.Google Scholar
Howard, R.J., and Larson, J.S. A stream habitat classification system for beaver. Journal of Wildlife Management 49, (1985). 19–25.Google Scholar
Ives, R. The beaver–meadow complex. Journal of Geomorphology 5, (1942). 191–203.Google Scholar
Johnston, C.A., and Naiman, R.J. Aquatic patch creation in relation to beaver population trends. Ecology 71, (1990). 1617–1621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jonas, R. J., (1955). A population and ecological study of the beaver (Castor canadensis) of Yellowstone National Park. Unpublished M.S. thesis, University of Idaho, .Google Scholar
Kay, C. E., (1990). Yellowstone's northern elk herd: A critical evaluation of the “natural-regulation” paradigm. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Utah State University, Logan.Google Scholar
Larsen, E.J., and Ripple, W.J. Aspen stand conditions on elk winter ranges in the northern Yellowstone Ecosystem, USA. Natural Areas Journal 25, (2005). 326–338.Google Scholar
Lawrimore, S., and Stephens, S. Climate of 2002 annual review. NOAA National Climatic Data Center. (2003). http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2002/ann/events.html Google Scholar
Legleiter, C., Lawrence, R., Fonstad, M., Marcus, W., and Aspinall, R. Fluvial response a decade after wildfire in the northern Yellowstone ecosystem: a spatially explicit analysis. Geomorphology 54, (2003). 119–136.Google Scholar
Luckman, B.H., Holdsworth, G., and Osborne, G.D. Neoglacial glacier fluctuations in the Canadian Rockies. Quaternary Research 39, (1993). 144–155.Google Scholar
McComb, W.C. Dam-site selection by beavers in an eastern Oregon basin. Great Basin Naturalist 50, (1990). 273–281.Google Scholar
McCulloch, D., and Hopkins, D. Evidence for an early recent warm interval in northwestern Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin 22, (1966). 1089–1108.Google Scholar
McCullough, J.L., Harper, J.L., Eisenhauer, D.E., and Dosskey, M.G. Channel aggradation by beaver dams on a small agricultural stream in eastern Nebraska. Journal of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers 57, (2005). 107–118.Google Scholar
Meyer, G.A. Recent large-magnitude floods and their impact on valley-floor environments of northeastern Yellowstone. Geomorphology 40, (2001). 271–290.Google Scholar
Meyer, G.A., Wells, S.G., and Jull, A.J.T. Fire and alluvial chronology in Yellowstone National Park— climatic and intrinsic controls on Holocene geomorphic processes. Geological Society of America Bulletin 107, (1995). 1211–1230.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millspaugh, S.H., and Whitlock, C. A 750-year fire history based on lake sediment records in central Yellowstone National Park, USA. Holocene 5, (1995). 283–292.Google Scholar
Millspaugh, S.H., Whitlock, C., and Bartlein, P.J. Variations in fire frequency and climate over the past 17 000 yr in central Yellowstone National Park. Geology 28, (2000). 211 Google Scholar
National Climatic Data Center Climate of 2006 — September Wyoming moisture status. (2006). http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2006/sep/st048dv00pcp200609.html Google Scholar
National Research Council Ecological Dynamics on Yellowstone's Northern Range. (2002). National Academy Press, Washington, D.C..Google Scholar
Persico, L. P., (2006). Beaver, climate, and fluvial geomorphic change in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming USA. University of New Mexico, .Google Scholar
Pierce, K. L., (1973). Surficial geologic map of the Mammoth Quadrangle and part of the Gardiner Quadrangle, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming and Montana. U. S. Geological Survey, Map I-641, scale 1:62,500.Google Scholar
Pierce, K. L., (1974). Surficial geologic map of the Tower Junction Quadrangle and part of the Mount Wallace Quadrangle, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming and Montana. U. S. Geological Survey, Map I-647, scale 1:62,500.Google Scholar
Pierce, K.L. History and dynamics of glaciation in the northern Yellowstone National Park area. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper (1979). 729–F.Google Scholar
Pollock, M.M., Beechie, T.J., and Jordan, C.E. Geomorphic changes upstream of beaver dams in Bridge Creek, an incised stream channel in the interior Columbia River basin, eastern Oregon. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 32, (2007). 1174–1185.Google Scholar
Pollock, M.M., Pess, G.R., Beechie, T.J., and Montgomery, D.R. The importance of beaver dams to coho salmon production in the Stillaguamish River basin, Washington, USA. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 24, (2004). 749–760.Google Scholar
Retzer, J. L., Swopf, H. M., Remington, J. D., and Rutherford, W. H., (1956). Suitability of physical factors for beaver management in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Colorado Department of Game and Fish Technical Bulletin 2.Google Scholar
Ripple, W.J., and Beschta, R.L. Linking wolves to willows via risk-sensitive foraging by ungulates in the northern Yellowstone ecosystem. Forest Ecology and Management 230, (2006). 96–106.Google Scholar
Romme, W.H., Turner, M.G., Wallace, L.L., and Walker, J.S. Aspen, elk, and fire in northern Yellowstone National Park. Ecology 76, (1995). 2097–2106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruedemann, R., and Schoonmaker, W. Beaver-dams as geologic agents. Science 88, (1938). 523–525.Google Scholar
Schumm, S.A. To Interpret the Earth: Ten Ways to be Wrong. (1991). Cambridge University Press, Google Scholar
Smith, D. W., (1998). Beaver Survey. Mammoth, WY., National Park Service report YCR-NR-93-3.Google Scholar
Stine, S. Medieval climatic anomaly in the Americas. Issar, A.S., and Brown, N. Water, Environment and Society in Times of Climatic Change. (1998). Kluwer Academic Publishers, 43–67.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Reimer, P. Extended C-14 data-base and revised CALIB 3.0 C-14 age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35, (1993). 215–230.Google Scholar
Suzuki, N., and McComb, W.C. Habitat classification models for beaver (Castor canadensis) in the streams of the central Oregon Coast Range. Northwest Science 72, (1998). 102–110.Google Scholar
Telford, R.J., Heegard, E., and Birks, H.J.B. The intercept is a poor estimate of a calibrated radiocarbon age. The Holocene 14, (2004). 296–298.Google Scholar
Warren, E. R., (1926). A study of the beaver in the Yancey region of Yellowstone National Park. Roosevelt Wildlife Annals 1, Syracuse.Google Scholar
Westerling, A.L., Hidalgo, H.G., Cayan, D.R., and Swetnam, T.W. Warming and earlier spring increase western US forest wildfire activity. Science 313, (2006). 940 Google Scholar
Whitlock, C., and Bartlein, P.J. Spatial variations of Holocene climatic change in the Yellowstone region.. Quaternary Research 39, (1993). 231–238.Google Scholar
Whitlock, C., Shafer, S.L., and Marlon, J. The role of climate and vegetation change in shaping past and future fire regimes in the northwestern US and the implications for ecosystem management. Forest Ecology and Management 178, (2003). 5 Google Scholar
Wohl, E. Human impacts to mountain streams. Geomorphology 79, (2006). 217–248.Google Scholar
Wolf, E.C., Cooper, D.J., and Hobbs, N.T. Hydrologic regime and herbivory stabilize an alternative state in Yellowstone National Park. Ecological Applications 17, (2007). 1572–1587.Google Scholar
Wolff, S.W., Wesch, T.A., and Hubert, W.A. Stream channel and habitat changes due to flow augmentation. Regulated Rivers, Research and Management 4, (1989). 225–233.Google Scholar
Yellowstone National Park, (1997). Yellowstone's Northern Range: Complexity and Change in a Wildland Ecosystem. National Park Service, Mammoth Hot Springs.Google Scholar