Boundary dynamics at the aquatic-terrestrial interface: The influence of beaver and geomorphology

Abstract

Beaver (Castor canadensis) impoundments are used to illustrate the effect of large animals on the boundary dynamics of ‘patch bodies’, volumetric landscape units which have surficial boundaries with upper and lower strata, and lateral boundaries with adjacent patches within the same stratum. Patch bodies created by beaver impoundments include the beaver pond, the aerobic soil beneath the pond, and the underlying anaerobic soil. Beaver herbivory in the riparian zone creates an additional patch body concentric to the pond. Beaver and water are the primary biotic and abiotic vectors mediating fluxes across lateral patch body boundaries; vegetation and microbes are the primary biotic vectors mediating fluxes across surficial patch body boundaries. Basin geomorphology affects the permeability of pond boundaries (i.e., their ability to transmit, energy and materials) by affecting the kinetic energy of water, the surface-to-volume ratio of the impoundment, and the movement of beaver between the pond and the riparian foraging zone. We suggest that: (1) permeability of lateral boundaries to abiotic vectors is a function of kinetic energy; (2) within-patch retention of particulate matter transferred by abiotic vectors across lateral boundaries is maximized by a decrease in kinetic energy; (3) lateral patch boundaries between safe refuge and a resource used by an animal vector are most permeable when they are narrow; and (4) total amount of energy and materials transferred across surficial boundaries is maximized by increasing surface area.