KNOWLEDGE BASE

In this article, researchers report on how the wolf's return to a Canadian National Park affected local ecology. Wolves avoided areas with high human activity, creating two areas that could be compared. In the low-wolf area, elk numbers were higher, leading to greater browsing of willow and aspen. This reduced beaver numbers, measured by a lower density of beave rlodges. This study highlights how wolves' presence can affect the entire ecosystem, and how human activity has a large role in shaping that effect.

In this study, researchers report on the distribution and nutritional content of the meat of wild beavers. They find that beaver thighs made up one-third of the overall body weight and contained two-thirds of the overall meat. The meat had a high protein content. In some parts of the world, there is a tradition for hunting beaver for meat but, until this study, most beaver meat research was based on beavers held in captivity. Please note, this resource is not open-access.

This text reports on a beaver using a willow stem as a tool to reach higher branches for food. This unique behaviour reduced the need for land foraging, lowering the risk of predation to the beaver. This is the first reported instance of a beaver using a tool to help with foraging.

In this article, researchers explain how beavers influence habitats physically, with their building behaviour, and biologically, with their foraging behaviour. They explain that beavers' impacts on the landscape vary according to population density and the geography of the habitat. The authors suggest that the influential role beavers play in ecosystem dynamics and their extensive range across the Northern hemisphere mean they should be a part of environmental managers' conservation plans.

This study recounts the history of a small peatland in a Canadian park. It explains how, between 1880 and 1980, a fen habitat persisted with largely stable water levels interspersed with occasional floods that killed encroaching trees. Later, higher water levels in the 1980s transformed the fen into a wetland. A beaver dam collapse in 2003 lowered water levels, exposing the peat and allowing plants to grow. The authors highlights how the fate of the fen could have been part of the park's beaver management plan.