Abstract
Beaver (Castor canadensis) herbivory can strongly affect the physiognomy and successional dynamics of forests and woodlands near bodies of water. In the central and southern Great Plains, the riparian zones that occur in a grassland / cropland matrix are foci of biodiversity and beaver activity, but little is known about patterns of beaver damage in these areas. We conducted a regional survey of beaver girdling of trees in riparian woodlands in south-central Kansas to determine 1) how the frequency of girdling was related to distance from streams, 2) whether there were differences among tree species in the frequency of girdling and, if so, which species were damaged most and 3) how the probability of beaver girdling varied with tree diameter. The frequency of girdling of trees declined more rapidly with distance from water (< 10 m) than in most northern ecosystems where beaver foraging patterns often have been quantified. Damage occurred significantly more frequently on Celtis occidentalis, Morus rubra an...
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