KNOWLEDGE BASE

This multi-decade study in Finland showed that beaver-induced flooding increased the number and abundance of seven waterbird species - all of the species which were monitored. The impact was especially strong during the first two years after flooding. The authors concluded that supporting beavers is an effective strategy for enhancing wetland biodiversity and waterbird communities. Please note, this resource is not open-access.

In Poland, documented beaver reintroductions have mostly used beavers from eastern Europe, but the country sits quite close to Germany. Beavers from Germany have a different genetic lineage. This paper looks at the DNA of 77 beavers from different parts of Poland and sees that beavers from Germany have likely migrated into Poland naturally, too. The paper discusses implications for how we understand the genetic lineages of Eurasian beavers. Please note, this resource is not open-access.

Unusually for rodents, beavers are monogamous. This study tested if Eurasian beavers can tell the sex of intruders based on scent. Both sexes responded more strongly to the scents of male intruders rather than female intruders. This suggests that they can tell the difference and that the male poses more of a threat.

River restoration projects in the USA often aim to stabilise channels and store sediment. Introducing beavers is being considered to achieve these aims. This text reports on how beavers' dam-building activity impacted the evolution of a river channel. This is a river at a gradient and on a type of soil which hadn't been researched much before! The results showed that beavers could be helpful for river restoration, stabilising the river channel and encouraging sediment deposition.

This text describes how impotrant genetic analysis can be to ensure success in beaver reintroductions. The authors report on a study of beaver genetics when considering potential candidate beavers for reintroduction to Scotland. Finally, the authors discuss the challenges of balancing genetic diversity and similarity when choosing source populations for reintroduction.