BIOL 2903 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Lake Ecosystem, Permafrost, Clay Belt
5 Mar 2017
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Beavers: largely affect the habitat of the boreal forest through their damns, which create ponds, and provide environments for other animals. They create damn because : safety, provides access to resources, water makes it easy to transport material, beavers need water that will not freeze to the bottom. Beaver ponds become sinks for nutrients which means that plants can grow there and animals can get nutrients from there (ex. Moose, water plants, whirligigs, nymphs: skimmers (dragonflies found near beaver ponds, frogs/toads, wood frogs freeze-tolerant, leopard frogs not freeze-tolerant, mink mostly by the shoreline running around, otters, hooded merganser. Beaver ponds also provide nitrogen and phosphorous minerals which a lot of plants and animals require. Warmer water = warmer temperature = more diversity. The boreal forest has thousands of lakes as well. The reason for this is because the lay of the land. These lakes are richer in nutrients than the lakes in the hbl.
