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Reprinted with permission from
Beaver Hills Initiative
Ecological Primer — What Makes the Beaver Hills So Special?

The Landscape: Ecological Linkages

Areas of high biodiversity owe some of their success to the extent of connectivity to other, adjacent natural habitat. Biodiversity is maintained through duplication of both populations and habitat, at successive geographic scales. The vegetation community (e.g., a wetland) offers resources to support healthy local populations of plants and wildlife. The regional ecosystem and larger natural subregion offer diversity and abundance of habitat that sustain a broad array of species and support many localized populations. Many separate populations provide protection from chance events (like drought) that cause extensive mortality. The surviving populations can bolster those suffering decline, revitalizing them through dispersal of juveniles and seeds, provided the declining sites area accessible.

The ability for both plant and wildlife species to move within each of those geographic scales is critical to their survival. Natural areas with linkage to other, nearby natural habitat can function as a broader network, and help support larger, regional populations of species. Linkages allow genetic exchange and through access to other natural habitat, facilitate recolonization of vacant habitat created by disturbance or chance events. Protected areas within such a network are a valuable component of a linked system as they often support secure populations that serve as a source of immigrants. The Beaver Hills provide an excellent example of a linked network, as they contain all of these components of an effective “network”.

The Aspen Parkland surrounding the Beaver Hills has experienced considerable conversion of the landbase to human use, so that remnant natural habitat is relatively patchy and limited. The extent of clearing is dramatically illustrated in this image, a LANDSAT satellite image of the Beaver Hills and surrounding lands. The Beaver Hills, with its extensive forests and wetlands, remains predominately green, particularly on the east side, indicating relatively continuous forest cover. The surrounding plains, in contrast, are predominantly pink and purple, indicating extensive clearing and development.

Permeability, a measure of connectivity, is likely still high within the Beaver Hills, especially compared to the adjacent plains. Small bands of green extend north and south into the adjacent lands, indicating linkage with the adjacent natural subregions. Because of this internal and external continuity of natural habitat, the Beaver Hills provides an effective network of natural areas, as well as an important regional link between the larger boreal forest subregion to the north and the remaining natural lands in the Aspen Parkland to the south.