Using remote sensing and GIS to quantify beaver dam habitat
Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Graduate
Major
Biology/Watershed Studies
List all Project Mentors & Advisor(s)
Robin Zhang
Presentation Format
Poster Presentation
Abstract/Description
Beavers have largely been absent from the North American landscape due to fur trapping since the mid-1800s. More recently, there has been widespread recognition of their importance as an ecosystem engineer, and beaver populations have been increasing. Beaver dams create ponds that have been studied as habitat for aquatic organisms but less studied is the habitat that the dam itself provides. Beaver dams are conglomerates of sticks and mud with fast flowing water which could provide habitat and refugia for stream macroinvertebrates. Since beaver dams as habitat has been overlooked in scientific literature, it is unknown what percentage of a stream ecosystems is made up of beaver dams. In addition, how that possibly changes within a stream valley in a degraded system. I hypothesize that beaver dams make up at least 1-5% of stream area and volume. Also, that beaver dams have less area and volume in degraded areas due to a lack of coarse woody debris. To test these hypotheses, I collected drone imagery of Kimball Creek during March 2018. Then using ArcMap, I used the imagery to measure the dam area, then created digital elevation models to measure the height of each dam. I then separated Kimball Creek into three sections to see if the beaver dam area and volume differs based on location and level of degradation. Identifying beaver dams as habitat and quantifying its area and volume is the first step of habitat investigation and another application of remote sensing and drone technology.
Spring Scholars Week 2019 Event
Sigma Xi Poster Competition (Juried)
Using remote sensing and GIS to quantify beaver dam habitat
Beavers have largely been absent from the North American landscape due to fur trapping since the mid-1800s. More recently, there has been widespread recognition of their importance as an ecosystem engineer, and beaver populations have been increasing. Beaver dams create ponds that have been studied as habitat for aquatic organisms but less studied is the habitat that the dam itself provides. Beaver dams are conglomerates of sticks and mud with fast flowing water which could provide habitat and refugia for stream macroinvertebrates. Since beaver dams as habitat has been overlooked in scientific literature, it is unknown what percentage of a stream ecosystems is made up of beaver dams. In addition, how that possibly changes within a stream valley in a degraded system. I hypothesize that beaver dams make up at least 1-5% of stream area and volume. Also, that beaver dams have less area and volume in degraded areas due to a lack of coarse woody debris. To test these hypotheses, I collected drone imagery of Kimball Creek during March 2018. Then using ArcMap, I used the imagery to measure the dam area, then created digital elevation models to measure the height of each dam. I then separated Kimball Creek into three sections to see if the beaver dam area and volume differs based on location and level of degradation. Identifying beaver dams as habitat and quantifying its area and volume is the first step of habitat investigation and another application of remote sensing and drone technology.