ISLE ROYALE – New research, published in Nature Scientific Reports, reveals how gray wolves on Isle Royale National Park seasonally alter their habitat preferences to align with beavers’ habitat preferences, a shift that might have implications for the island’s ecosystem.

Isle Royale is home to a plethora of animal species, including one of nature’s renowned architects, the American beaver. “Beavers are ecosystem engineers by building dams that are creating impoundments,” said Adia Sovie, the study’s lead author and a Michigan State University researcher. “Large ponds that used to be moving water are now standing water, so that can actually affect the entire ecosystem that is now flooded,”

The team gathered pre-existing data on the number and locations of active beaver lodges in the park

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