KNOWLEDGE BASE

Excavations in Lancashire, UK, revealed pieces of timber gnawed by beavers over 2,500 years ago! The timber had been preserved in peat. The evidence suggested that beavers may have flooded the area and sparked the creation of the mire - the first time that this would have been recorded in British prehistory. The finding also suggested that some ancient deforestation may have been due to beavers rather than humans. Please note, this resource is not open-access.

Beavers, as "ecological engineers," influence fish communities by creating different habitats. In this study, researchers analysed how fish biodiversity fared in different beaver ponds across a National Park in the USA. The paper developed a conceptual model of how different factors - including the age of the pond, proximity to a nearby lake, and other landscape features - interact to influence fish assemblages. This model is visible in Figure 6 of the paper.

Over 12 years, researchers studied beaver dispersal in the USA. Most beavers (74%) dispersed downstream after the ice melted. Females traveled farther from the colonies where they were born than males, with many males choosing to settle at the next available site. Most of the beavers leaving the place where they were born were 2 years old.

This book - the product of a beaver conference in Spain - contains 17 chapters. Overall, the book talks about different aspects of beavers' protection, distribution, and management (as it stood around the turn of the millenium), with groups of chapters on the Eurasian beaver and the North American beaver. It explores themes such as beaver behaviour, foraging, and population dynamics. On the conservation side, there are chapters describing the context of beaver management in different countries as well as how beavers can be allies in broader ecological restoration efforts. Please note, this resource is not open-access.

This Canadian study examined how beaver browsing affects plant communities in lowland boreal forests. Beavers preferred certain deciduous species, but this did not fully shift the plant community towards non-preferred species. However, beavers' foraging created gaps in the forest which enabled the growth of shoots of both preferred and non-preferred species. A random fact of interest: the largest stem which beavers were found to have cut in this study was 45.3 cm in diameter. Please note, this resource is not open-access.