Date of Award
12-2025
Culminating Project Type
Thesis
Styleguide
apa
Degree Name
Geography - Geographic Information Science: M.S.
Department
Geography and Planning
College
School of Public Affairs
First Advisor
Mikhail Blinnikov
Second Advisor
Jeffrey Torguson
Third Advisor
Sarah Gibson
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Keywords and Subject Headings
Castoroides beaver muskrat Pleistocene extinction biogeography
Abstract
The extinct giant beaver (Castoroides ohioensis Foster, 1838) was a characteristic part of the Pleistocene mammalian fauna for much of eastern North America until its extinction approximately 10,000 years ago. Previous work has suggested that C. ohioensis is not simply a larger version of the modern beaver (Castor canadensis Kuhl, 1820) in terms of its ecology. While C. canadensis survived the climatic and environmental upheaval of the Younger Dryas event, C. ohioensis did not. This study uses ecological niche modelling and estimates of species carrying capacity to investigate how C. ohioensis, as well as Castor canadensis and another semi-aquatic rodent, Ondatra zibethicus Link, 1795, responded to environmental changes at the end of the Pleistocene. While the species distribution models show that all three species expanded their range throughout the Pleistocene–Holocene transition, the population models suggest that Castoroides experiences a higher degree of population upheaval than Castor or Ondatra. The model also suggests that Castoroides was limited by environments with a low amount of net primary productivity.
Recommended Citation
Hillesheim, Benjamin J., "Modelling the Species Distribution of Three Semi-aquatic Rodent Species (Castor canadensis, Castoroides ohioensis, and Ondatra zibethicus) During the Late Pleistocene" (2025). Culminating Projects in Geography and Planning. 27.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/gp_etds/27
Comments/Acknowledgements
To Henry