KNOWLEDGE BASE

Researchers investigated beaver wetlands in New York state to see whether plant species richness is influenced more by landscape-scale factors or by factors within each wetland. They found that both were important: wetlands with higher water drainage rates had higher species richness but the time since beavers had left a site was also an important factor.

This is the chapter of a book on the wild mammals of North America. The chapter is a good introduction to the North American beaver, covering its history, distribution, physiology, life cycle, behaviour, and ecology. The penultimate section looks at beavers' economic status, management and conservation before setting out research needs.

This study sets out forest management options for the northeastern USA. Historically, these forests faced various natural disturbances like fire, wind, and beaver activity. Today, wind and beavers are the main natural forces affecting forests, but beavers - now recovering in numbers after having been made locally extinct - do not have the same landscape impact as before. This means that species reliant on disturbances are declining, while those favoring mature forests are stable or increasing. The authors say conservation efforts should simulate natural disturbances to create diverse habitats for wildlife preservation.

In this paper, the decline and conservation prospects for thicket habitats and species in northeastern USA are reviewed. Historically, beavers have been influential in the creation of thicket habitats; how the decline in beaver populations affects the prospects for effective thicket restoration remains unclear. The author also sets out a number of conservation options and challenges.

Researchers examined the body shapes and diets of coyote-wolf hybrids in southeastern Ontario to understand how they varied with geography. They found that, in areas with lower road density and more tree cover, these hybrids were more likely to resemble wolves and more likely to eat larger prey such as beavers.