Beavers
I don't think that beavers will overwhelm this area in the next fifty years, simply because of the fact that they destroy their own habitat as they live in it (Wessels 1997). I think that the population of beavers in this area may rise to fairly high levels, but I think that it will crash once the beavers have degraded too much of their surrounding habitats to survive the winter. I feel that the natural carrying capacity of any area is relatively small for beavers, because once they move away from an area, it will take years for that area to become an acceptable habitat again. I believe that we may be experiencing an upswing in beaver populations, but this will be followed by a population crash, which will be followed by a smaller upswing, then a smaller crash, etc. While it may take time before the beaver population is stabilized, I do think it will happen before we are overrun with them. I think the only reason that the beavers are doing so well now is because there were no beavers around for many years before them to degrade potential habitats. This means that every possible habitat location available to a beaver is as good (in the beaver's mind) as it is going to get.
I have a feeling that even though people are not trapping beavers as much as they did historically, the beaver populations will still fall to lower levels than they are at now. They both state that beavers have a huge impact on the surrounding environment because of the way they "create" their own habitats, which are quite different from the surrounding area. One thing which I think will also help the reduction in beaver populations would be a removal of the ban on leg-holding traps (Bernados et al. with all the nearby areas stripped of resources, few beavers will survive. By trapping enough beavers to keep the populations low (but steady), I think we can minimize the damage done to human systems, preserve the improved biodiversity created by beavers, and help the beaver populations themselves by avoiding large population surges and crashes. I think it is very helpful to see these two papers together, as it allows for a "bigger pattern" to be seen. Both also state that beavers are important to the surrounding environment because they alter it in ways that create completely new habitats, thus raising the amount of biodiversity in a given area. This is especially important in this area, since we have eliminated most of the large predators which preyed upon beavers. While the trapping of beavers has been dropping off (Bernados et al. While Wessels seemed to focus more on the interactions between beavers and the landscape, Bernados et al. Since they would also be fairly simple to count, it would be easy to tell if they are being overharvested, maintained, or if the populations are rising. With a little bit of work, it would be feasible to set up a permit system, like that used for deer, and simply raise or lower the amount of permits issued each year in order to keep the beaver populations at a steady, acceptable, and viable level. The only thing which I thought was different about their views was the focus.
Common topics in this essay:
Beavers Overwhelm,
bernados et al,
beaver populations,
bernados et,
et al,
wessels 1997,
al 2004,
et al 2004,
trapping beavers,
populations beavers rising,
easy trap slow,
damage human systems,
damage human,
human systems,
populations beavers,
beavers rising,
|
Acceptance Essays
