Abstract

The North American beaver is the most iconic and studied invasive species of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. The scientific literature has focused on highlighting the beaver negative impacts on the ecosystems, which have resulted in reduced actions such as eradication. However, the beaver problem in relation to ecosystem services (ES) has been little described or analyzed previously. This chapter provides a beaver habitat suitability map and discusses the potential positive and/or negative relationships between beaver invasion and ES (provisioning, cultural, supporting and regulating). We found that ES approaches can provide evidence of the beaver role for the people in different archipelago’s vegetation zones. We conclude by outlining how the comprehensive assessment of ES can be a tool that allows to understand and guide decision-making for the beaver issue.