KNOWLEDGE BASE

Forests play a crucial role in storing carbon. Researchers here studied how invasive beavers impact carbon storage in Chilean forests. The results showed that invasive beavers had led to significant carbon losses by cutting down trees. The authors suggested that this is an aspect of climate and deforestation contexts which required more attention.

This Finnish study showed that the North American beaver occupies similar habitats to the Eurasian beaver. Both show a lot of adaptability, even if Eurasian beavers tend to live a little closer to agricultural areas. Overall, managing habitat quality did not appear to be a sufficient approach for controlling the invasive North American beaver species.

This book explores the history of Eurasian beavers in Wales. It combines archaeological and historical evidence to trace their presence and impact from the Ice Age to the 18th century. It looks at beavers' biology, as well as how they were and are intertwined with local culture: from place names to their place on high-status dining tables. The book also made the case for beavers' reintroduction in Wales. Please note, this resource is not open-access.

In Canada, researchers studied how concentrated different chemical elements were in beaver tissue in comparison to the river water they were living in. It found that beaver tissues had particularly high concentrations of certain elements like Cadmium, but the paper goes into a lot more detail for each chemical and each tissue type. The authors suggest that this data can help monitor environmental quality in riverscapes. Please note, this resource is not open-access.

Beavers were first seen near Warsaw in 1997. This paper reported on surveys conducted between 2015-2017, which found nine beaver families along the Vistula river running through the city. Since no reintroductions had occurred in this area, the beavers likely migrated from elsewhere in the catchment. Urban development and habitat loss was said to explain the lower beaver density in the city.