health news articles

Beavers have long been considered nuisances. They knock down trees and block waterways, often flooding areas where humans live and gather. But recent moves to leave the beavers alone show they can enhance and restore natural environments.

Like other animals that create, modify, and maintain their environments, beavers are referred to as “ecosystem engineers”. In one study, scientists determined busy beavers improve ecosystem health, “increasing species richness at the landscape scale”.

They found that in New York state’s central Adirondacks, “ecosystem engineering by beaver leads to the formation of extensive wetland habitat capable of supporting herbaceous plant species not found