Beaver Fever
Description
Today, the British countryside is a land of storybook estates and manicured hedgerows. A beautiful but unnatural panorama with very little “wild” left in it. That wasn’t always the case. Hundreds of years ago, before they were wiped out here, beavers sculpted a wilder landscape of vast wetlands that supported a myriad of other species. Now, a movement is underway to bring these ecosystem engineers back. Their famously busy work is increasing local biodiversity, reducing the flooding of villages, and restoring wilderness to a notoriously nature-deprived landscape. Can beavers help Britain once again hear the call of the wild?
Key Terms
biodiversity, dam, ecosystem engineer, flood, reintroduction, wetland
Terms of Use
Version History
NGSS 2013
LS2.A, LS2.B, LS2.C, LS4.C, LS4.D
AP Biology 2019
ENE-4, SYI-2, SYI-3
AP Environmental Science 2020
2.2, 2.7, 8.2, 8.4, 9.10
IB Environmental Systems and Societies 2017
3.1, 3.3, 3.4
Vision and Change 2009
CC5, DP5