BEAVER INFLUENCES ON THE LONG-TERM BIOGEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BOREAL FOREST DRAINAGE NETWORKS

Beaver (Castor canadensis) affect biogeochemical cycles and the accumulation and distribution of chemical elements over time and space by altering the hydrologic regime. Aerial photograph analyses of beaver activities on the 298-km(2) Kabetogama Peninsula, Minnesota, were coupled with site-specific studies of soil and pore water concentrations of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus) and other ions (potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, sulfate, chloride), nitrogen cycling processes (nitrogen fixation and denitrification), and biophysical environmental variables (vegetation, temperature, organic matter, soil structure, pH, and oxidation-reduction potential). Our analyses demonstrate that beaver influence the distribution, standing stocks, and availability of chemical elements by hydrologically induced alteration of biogeochemical pathways and by shifting element storage from forest vegetation to sediments and soils. Over the 63 yr of aerial photo records (1927-1988), beaver converted 13% of the peninsula to meadows and ponds. Elemental concentrations in soils (in micrograms per cubic centimetre) and in pore water (in milligrams per litre) revealed complex patterns within and among the principal hydrologic zones (e.g., forest, moist meadow, wet meadow, pond, stream). Principal components analysis (PCA) suggested that anaerobic conditions caused by saturation of soil by water was the fundamental control over subsequent alterations of biogeochemical pathways. Although few clear statistical trends were detected for mass- or volume-specific elemental concentrations among habitats, organic horizon (O and A) depths were greatest in the wet meadows and ponds (>15 cm), causing the standing stocks of chemical elements to be greatest there. We argue that the net effect of beaver activities has been to translocate chemical elements from the originally inundated upland forest vegetation to downstream communities and to pond sediments. As the upland vegetation dies and decays after dam construction, only a portion of the chemical elements are exported downstream (except for calcium and magnesium) or returned to the atmosphere (C and N only). Consequently, the organic horizons of pond sediments accumulate substantial standing stocks of chemical elements that are available for vegetative growth when darns fail, the ponds drain, and meadows are formed. Since 1927 beaver activities have augmented the standing stock of chemical elements in the organic horizons by 20-295%, depending on the element. These influences are spatially extensive and long lasting, affecting fundamental environmental characteristics of boreal forest drainage networks for decades to centuries.