Nauka Przyroda Technologie

2007 volume 1 issue 2 #38

Andrzej Bereszyński, Ewa Homan

OCCURENCE OF EUROPEAN BEAVER (CASTOR FIBER LINNAEUS, 1958)

Summary. European beaver, Castor fiber L. represents a species which, thanks to its reproduction being carried out for over 30 years (totally over 1000 individuals) by the Department of Zoology, Agricultural University in Poznań (95% beavers introduced in the years 1974-2006 on the area of West Poland originated from catches from wild life in Białystok province, Suwałki and Mazuria, only about 5% came from closed breedings in Popielno and Wiartel), has created in the natural ecosystems of West Poland a population counting 4500 individuals and it has independently expanded to urbanized areas. One of such towns is Poznan. The first locality of beavers in Poznań was found in 1985, in the old river-bed of Warta in Naramowice. Ten years later (1994/95), there existed in Poznan already nine localities and eight of them were settled in Warta river bed, or on the directly adjacent areas. Only one locality was at that time on Warta river tributary (Cybina river near Antoninek). In the years 2005/06, Warta river-bed was settled by nine beaver families. The remaining families were on Warta tributaries, and even in places without any direct connection with Warta river. In 2006, within the administrative borders of Poznan town, there were 35 active localities of European beaver Casor fiber L. Beaver population on the terrain of Poznan does not show any tendencies to excessive saturation of the environment. Many water courses and water reservoirs, potentially attractive to that species have not yet been settled. There exists a high probability, that in the nearest years, the synantropizing beaver population on the area of Poznan will increase in number. The maintenance of beaver in Poznan may have a positive effect on the renaturalization of the water courses in the town which had been degraded in result of urbanization. Changes evoked in the environment by the activity of beavers create optimal conditions for the existence of other animal species. For the maintenance of beaver population and the insurance of its development it is important to educate the owners of those town areas where beavers have settled and to promote methods minimizing damages caused by beavers as well as to instruct the people how to prevent such situations. It is also necessary to continue monitoring beaver localities and their effect on the environment.

Key words: European beaver, Poznań, occurrence, ecology, protection

Full text available in Polish in Adobe Acrobat format:
https://www.npt.up-poznan.net/pub/art_1_38.pdf

Streszczenie w języku polskim:
https://www.npt.up-poznan.net/tom1/zeszyt2/streszczenie-38.html

Corresponding address:
Andrzej Bereszyński
Andrzej Bereszyński
Katedra Zoologii
Akademia Rolnicza im. Augusta Cieszkowskiego
ul. Wojska Polskiego 71 C
60-625 Poznań, Poland

e-mail: whibz.kz@au.poznan.pl

Accepted for print: 21.03.2007