KNOWLEDGE BASE

As part of the 5-year Scottish Beaver Trial, this paper summarises the impacts of beavers' reintroduction on two species of dragonfly. The report summarises the data gathered but the results are inconclusive. The author says that a 5-year trial was too short a timespan to produce clear results - one of the dragonfly species' larvae takes 3 years alone to develop!

This text presented new evidence, dated between 1269 and 1396, of beavers existing in northern England's uplands. Pieces of wood with beaver markings were found in a forest in Northumberland. The date proves beavers were around in England 400 years later than previously known.

This study tested wild Eurasian beavers in Poland for metal contamination from human industry. They found evidence of lead, cadmium, copper, and zinc by looking at beaver livers and kidneys. This was true even in beavers living far from industrial areas, showing that pollution monitoring is crucial to maintain safe levels of environmental pollution.

This paper puts numbers on the impact that beavers have on wetland habitats, making them more connected with the land-based habitats around them. Based on a Canadian wetland, this paper calculates that beavers increased the wetland's surface area:volume ration by around 50% and increased the wetland perimeter by almost 600%! This enhances the connectivity of habitats, demonstrating how important beavers are to make habitats resilient.

This study investigates how the network of foraging canals beavers can dig and how they are used by pond-breeding amphibians during dispersal and migration in Canada. They found that adult wood frogs were up to nine times more abundant on beaver canals than along shorelines not modified by beavers., with the canals providing habitat and functioning as movement corridors for adult and emigrating young frogs.