beaver dams
Stream-blocking stick piles
Beaver dams are structures built by beavers across streams and rivers, using branches, mud, and debris to create ponds.
These engineering works provide the animals with deep water for protection and food storage.
The dams can dramatically reshape landscapes, flooding areas and creating wetland ecosystems: The hiking trail was submerged after beavers built a dam upstream.
- termite moundsColonial insect architecture
- coral reefsCalcium carbonate marine structures
- pond ecosystemLife web in standing water
- ant hillsInsect colony dwellings
- lodgesBackcountry rental cabins
keystone species · water levels · flood control · ponds · freshwater habitats · wildlife habitat · oyster beds · construction · bodies of water · trees · barriers · rivers · streams · gnawing · flooding · rodent · teeth · flat tail
- damsbarrage, spillway, cofferdam, Shasta, Bonneville
- Biomimicrydragonfly wings, butterfly wing, structural color, honeycomb structures, honeycomb structure
- watershed restorationstream restoration, river cleanup, watershed protection, habitat restoration, fish habitat
- Wetland Phenomenaswamp gas, will-o-wisp, bog bodies, seasonal flooding, stagnant water
- aquatic environmentswetlands, marshes, lakes, rivers, streams
- animal homesnest, den, burrow, hive, lair
beaver damsconcrete dams
Solid barriers blocking waterways
levees · hydroelectric dams · Hoover Dam · Three Gorges Dam · seawalls
beaver damschannelization
Straightening natural waterways
habitat destruction · ecological degradation · deforestation · land clearing · land reclamation
dam, beaver, dams, beavers, dammed, damming, beavering, beaver dam