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Rapid Surface Water Volume Estimations In Beaver Ponds, Daniel J. Karran, Cherie J. Westbrook, Joseph M. Wheaton, Carol A. Johnston, Angela Bedard-Haughn

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Beaver ponds are surface water features that are transient through space and time. Such qualities complicate the inclusion of beaver ponds in local and regional water balances, and in hydrological models, as reliable estimates of surface water storage are difficult to acquire without time and labour intensive topographic surveys. A simpler approach to overcome this challenge is needed, given the abundance of the beaver ponds in North America, Eurasia and southern South America. We investigated whether simple morphometric characteristics derived from readily available aerial imagery or quickly measured field attributes of beaver ponds can be used to approximate surface water …