Climate change is thawing permafrost, increasing shrubby vegetation, and increasing unfrozen water in the Arctic. Beavers are ecosystem engineers not previously considered an Arctic species. Recent research in Alaska shows that they have moved into tundra regions, constructing over 10,000 ponds in the last several decades. This talk will explore the scale of this new disturbance regime in Arctic Alaska, and discuss some likely impacts that this disturbance is having on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
Dr. Ken Tape is an Associate Professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. He is in Norway for 3 months on a Fulbright Award to learn more about beavers from Frank Rosell at USN and widen the reach of the recently-formed Arctic Beaver Observation Network.
A link to the pdf presentation is available here.