The Middle Pleistocene site Bilzingsleben II is well-known for its wealth of vertebrate and archaeological remains. Of particular importance is the record of Homo erectus bilzingslebenensis. Most ...palaeontologists consider the find horizon as a primary vertebrate deposit formed during human occupation, while some archaeologists attribute its formation to turbulent gravitational mass flows, inundation or a combination of both. Here we present mortality profiles of the beavers Castor and Trogontherium to provide further arguments to this controversial discussion. The mortality profiles of Castor from Bilzingsleben II, Weimar-Ehringsdorf and Weimar-Taubach are largely identical indicating similar taphonomic filters that were effective in the formation of the find layers. Individuals, which were tentatively classified as suspected ±2–2½ year old beavers dominate by far in all three sites. The structure of these mortality profiles shows similarities to Stiner’s (1990) “prime dominated mortality pattern”, which is indicative of human hunting. This consideration is supported by the difference of the mortality profile of Trogontherium from Bilzingsleben II (dominance of older individuals) in relation to the profiles of non-hominin generated assemblages of Tegelen and Mosbach 2 (dominance of younger individuals). Thus, our data support the interpretation of the Palaeolithic find horizon of Bilzingsleben II as a primary vertebrate deposit, but not the gravitational mass flow and inundation hypotheses.
Beavers (Castor fiber, Castor canadensis) are one of the most influential mammalian ecosystem engineers, heavily modifying river corridor hydrology, geomorphology, nutrient cycling, and ecosystems. ...As an agent of disturbance, they achieve this first and foremost through dam construction, which impounds flow and increases the extent of open water, and from which all other landscape and ecosystem impacts follow. After a long period of local and regional eradication, beaver populations have been recovering and expanding throughout Europe and North America, as well as an introduced species in South America, prompting a need to comprehensively review the current state of knowledge on how beavers influence the structure and function of river corridors. Here, we synthesize the overall impacts on hydrology, geomorphology, biogeochemistry, and aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Our key findings are that a complex of beaver dams can increase surface and subsurface water storage, modify the reach scale partitioning of water budgets, allow site specific flood attenuation, alter low flow hydrology, increase evaporation, increase water and nutrient residence times, increase geomorphic heterogeneity, delay sediment transport, increase carbon, nutrient and sediment storage, expand the extent of anaerobic conditions and interfaces, increase the downstream export of dissolved organic carbon and ammonium, decrease the downstream export of nitrate, increase lotic to lentic habitat transitions and aquatic primary production, induce ‘reverse’ succession in riparian vegetation assemblages, and increase habitat complexity and biodiversity on reach scales. We then examine the key feedbacks and overlaps between these changes caused by beavers, where the decrease in longitudinal hydrologic connectivity create ponds and wetlands, transitions between lentic to lotic ecosystems, increase vertical hydraulic exchange gradients, and biogeochemical cycling per unit stream length, while increased lateral connectivity will determine the extent of open water area and wetland and littoral zone habitats, and induce changes in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem assemblages. However, the extent of these impacts depends firstly on the hydro-geomorphic landscape context, which determines the extent of floodplain inundation, a key driver of subsequent changes to hydrologic, geomorphic, biogeochemical, and ecosystem dynamics. Secondly, it depends on the length of time beavers can sustain disturbance at a given site, which is constrained by top down (e.g. predation) and bottom up (e.g. competition) feedbacks, and ultimately determines the pathways of river corridor landscape and ecosystem succession following beaver abandonment. This outsized influence of beavers on river corridor processes and feedbacks is also fundamentally distinct from what occurs in their absence. Current river management and restoration practices are therefore open to re-examination in order to account for the impacts of beavers, both positive and negative, such that they can potentially accommodate and enhance the ecosystem engineering services they provide. It is hoped that our synthesis and holistic framework for evaluating beaver impacts can be used in this endeavor by river scientists and managers into the future as beaver populations continue to expand in both numbers and range.
► The reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone has triggered a tri-trophic cascade. ► Woody plants are now growing taller in portions of the northern range. ► Wolf reintroduction may represent an ...effective approach for passively restoring ecosystems.
The 1995/1996 reintroduction of gray wolves (Canis lupus) into Yellowstone National Park after a 70year absence has allowed for studies of tri-trophic cascades involving wolves, elk (Cervus elaphus), and plant species such as aspen (Populus tremuloides), cottonwoods (Populus spp.), and willows (Salix spp.). To investigate the status of this cascade, in September of 2010 we repeated an earlier survey of aspen and measured browsing and heights of young aspen in 97 stands along four streams in the Lamar River catchment of the park’s northern winter range. We found that browsing on the five tallest young aspen in each stand decreased from 100% of all measured leaders in 1998 to means of <25% in the uplands and <20% in riparian areas by 2010. Correspondingly, aspen recruitment (i.e., growth of seedlings/sprouts above the browse level of ungulates) increased as browsing decreased over time in these same stands. We repeated earlier inventories of cottonwoods and found that recruitment had also increased in recent years. We also synthesized studies on trophic cascades published during the first 15years after wolf reintroduction. Synthesis results generally indicate that the reintroduction of wolves restored a trophic cascade with woody browse species growing taller and canopy cover increasing in some, but not all places. After wolf reintroduction, elk populations decreased, but both beaver (Caster canadensis) and bison (Bison bison) numbers increased, possibly due to the increase in available woody plants and herbaceous forage resulting from less competition with elk. Trophic cascades research during the first 15years after wolf reintroduction indicated substantial initial effects on both plants and animals, but northern Yellowstone still appears to be in the early stages of ecosystem recovery. In ecosystems where wolves have been displaced or locally extirpated, their reintroduction may represent a particularly effective approach for passive restoration.
Predator–prey relationships can have wide‐ranging ecological and landscape‐level effects. Knowledge of these relationships is therefore crucial to understanding how these systems function and how ...changes in predator–prey communities affect these systems. Grey wolves Canis lupus can be significant predators of beavers Castor spp., and conversely, beavers can be important prey for wolves, but wolf‐beaver dynamics in North America, Europe, and Asia are poorly understood.
Our objectives were to synthesise current knowledge regarding wolf‐beaver interactions and to identify knowledge gaps that should be targeted for study to increase our understanding of wolf‐beaver dynamics.
During the ice‐free season, beavers are vulnerable to predation and can be the primary or secondary prey of wolves, but the factors that affect beaver consumption by wolves are complex and are likely dependent on biological and environmental factors.
High beaver abundance can increase wolf pup survival, and beavers may subsidise wolves during periods of reduced ungulate abundance. Thus, many researchers have suggested that beaver densities adversely affect ungulate populations through apparent competition, though this remains largely untested.
The effects of wolf predation on beaver population dynamics are poorly understood, as most assessments are lacking in quantitative rigor and are instead based on indirect methods (e.g. scat analysis), anecdotal evidence, or speculation. To understand the effect of predation on beaver populations fully, better estimates (e.g. from documented predation events) of wolf predation on beavers are necessary.
Given the complexities of wolf‐ungulate‐beaver systems, fully understanding wolf‐beaver dynamics will be challenging and is likely to require long‐term, intensive research of wolf, ungulate, and beaver population parameters. Understanding this dynamic has implications, not only for the conservation and management of wolves and beavers, but also for ungulate populations, which are affected by the numerical and functional responses of wolves in these same systems.
Lechner, T. and Bohme, M. 2022. The beaver Steneofiber depereti from the lower Upper Miocene hominid locality Hammerschmiede and remarks on its ecology. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 67 (4): 807-826. ...Dental remains of a medium sized beaver from the early Late Miocene Hammerschmiede locality (MN 7/8) in the Northern Alpine Foreland Basin (Southern Germany, Bavaria) are described and assigned to Steneofiber depereti. The numerous material (160 teeth) was collected in the two fossiliferous layers HAM 5 and HAM 4 and comprises beaver individuals of a large range of age classes, from juvenile to old. The dental remains metrically and morphologically overlap the stratigraphic older Steneofiber spp. and the younger Chalicomys spp. This supports the hypothesis of the European anagenetic evolutionary lineage Steneofiber depereti-Chalicomys jaegeri. The morphological characters to differentiate Steneofiber depereti and Chalicomys jaegeri are discussed and redefined. The performed age-frequency distribution (Mortality profile) indicates a natural ecological mortality and confirms that at least the fluvial channel of the HAM 4 deposits was the actual optimal beaver habitat and continuously populated by larger family groups of beavers. Furthermore, there are indications that the Hammerschmiede beaver had a similar parental investment as today's beavers, where young adults migrate to poorer habitats in the second year, in search of their own territory. The shallower channel of HAM 5 possibly represents such a "second choice" habitat. Key words: Mammalia, Rodentia, Castoridae, Steneofiber depereti, ecology, mortality, Miocene, Germany, Bavaria.
While large herbivores can have strong impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, much less is known of their role in aquatic systems. We reviewed the literature to determine: 1) which large herbivores (> 10 ...kg) have a (semi‐)aquatic lifestyle and are important consumers of submerged vascular plants, 2) their impact on submerged plant abundance and species composition, and 3) their ecosystem functions. We grouped herbivores according to diet, habitat selection and movement ecology: 1) Fully aquatic species, either resident or migratory (manatees, dugongs, turtles), 2) Semi‐aquatic species that live both in water and on land, either resident or migratory (swans), 3) Resident semi‐aquatic species that live in water and forage mainly on land (hippopotamuses, beavers, capybara), 4) Resident terrestrial species with relatively large home ranges that frequent aquatic habitats (cervids, water buffalo, lowland tapir). Fully aquatic species and swans have the strongest impact on submerged plant abundance and species composition. They may maintain grazing lawns. Because they sometimes target belowground parts, their activity can result in local collapse of plant beds. Semi‐aquatic species and turtles serve as important aquatic–terrestrial linkages, by transporting nutrients across ecosystem boundaries. Hippopotamuses and beavers are important geomorphological engineers, capable of altering the land and hydrology at landscape scales. Migratory species and terrestrial species with large home ranges are potentially important dispersal vectors of plant propagules and nutrients. Clearly, large aquatic herbivores have strong impacts on associated species and can be critical ecosystem engineers of aquatic systems, with the ability to modify direct and indirect functional pathways in ecosystems. While global populations of large aquatic herbivores are declining, some show remarkable local recoveries with dramatic consequences for the systems they inhabit. A better understanding of these functional roles will help set priorities for the effective management of large aquatic herbivores along with the plant habitats they rely on.
In this study, we describe the dental remains of a very minute beaver from the early Late Miocene locality Hammerschmiede (MN 7/8) located at the Northern Alpine Foreland Basin (Southern Germany, ...Bavaria). The finds represent the so far most comprehensive (>1.000 dental specimens) collection of the trogontheriine castorid Euroxenomys minutus. Metrically and morphologically, the large data set demonstrates an extensive intraspecific variability of this beaver from Hammerschmiede that covers most finds of other European localities and confirms previous species assignments. The subspecies Euroxenomys minutus rhenanus from Dorn-Dürkheim (Germany), clearly isolates from this range of variation and can thus be validated. The performed age-frequency distributions for Euroxenomys minutus from the local stratigraphic levels HAM 5 (rivulet) and HAM 4 (river) correspond roughly and also resemble Euroxenomys from the swamp deposit Rudabánya (Hungary). Since previous mortality studies on the also occurring larger beaver Steneofiber depereti from Hammerschmiede demonstrated dominance of behavioural or internal factors, this cross-ecosystem similarity in mortality for the small beaver species is likely explained by external factors, such as predation. Supported by a taphonomic bone analysis, a multitude of predators are finally considered to prey on Euroxenomys minutus and indicate a predatory bone assemblage.
The Staniantsi-Mazgoš Basin is one of several Neogene intramontane basins in NW Bulgaria. Recent fieldwork in the open pit coal mine yielded material of an exceptional diversity of vertebrates from ...the uppermost Miocene. In particular, skeletal remains of a large Castorinae are very numerous and well-preserved. Here we perform a comparative morphological description of the postcranium of the Staniantsi-beaver and compare it with the extant Castor fiber and closely related fossil taxa, noting an overall high degree of similarity in many cases. Analyses of the functional anatomy confirm similar locomotor adaptations of the large Staniantsi-beaver and the extant Castor fiber. It is shown that the hindlimb exhibits typical adaptations for swimming and the forelimb is modified for a primary fossorial movement. Further, the caudal vertebrae indicate a flattened tail. Minor osteological differences can be used in a future clarification of the taxonomic status of this fossil castorine. In conclusion, the large Staniantsi-beaver seems to be equivalent to the extant Castor fiber and several fossil castorids in his locomotor adaptations and fits perfectly into the assumed swampy to lacustrine palaeoenvironment of the Staniantsi-Mazgoš Basin. Our results highlight the importance of the postcranium for reconstructing the palaeobiology and elucidating the taxonomy of fossil rodents.
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