The mountain beaver hypothesis - that the sword fern die-off is substantially, and maybe primarily the result of mountain beaver predation - is persuasively presented by Tristan, Kramer and Tim.
I wonder what they make of the absence of mountain beaver evidence in the original ground zero, and the radial spread outwards from ground zero around the Hatchery Trail?
Perhaps there are two primary causes (mountain beaver and a cryptic infection), and that sometimes the effects are mingled?
It would be helpful if we knew the dynamics of the mountain beaver population, which may well be at a peak now, rising perhaps from a minimum in 2008 when coyotes were resident in the park.
- Paul
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