On the 22th October seminar ministered by Professor Dr Adrian Jones, we could have an idea about the Welsh Beaver Project. This project investigate the “feasibility of bringing wild beaver (Castor fiber) back to Wales”. I found quite interesting because, as I am not a Zoology (or related area) student, I was not aware about the beaver situation (extinction) much less that there were projects interesting on its reintroduction in some areas. My interesting on attending on this lecture was because I wanted to be convinced about the benefits of reintroducing an specie that has been already extinct in an area wondering to know if I would find the reasons given plausible, as I believe that extinction is an natural process that can occur in all life history.
As beaver restore wetland eco-systems and produce a network of enriched riparian habitats, they play an important role as a keystone specie. Known for building dams, canals, and lodges (homes), beavers are the second-largest rodent in the world (after the capybara) and the largest in Europe. They are mainly aquatic and nocturnal and can be underwater for up to 15 minutes. Their colonies create one or more dams to provide still, deep water to protect against predators, and to float food and building material. As was shown in the seminar, beaver has been extinct by human for their fur, meat and castoreum. As they are not aggressive, they were easy prey to hunters this, associated to their hight value meant, lead to its extinction in most Europe extension. By the 20th century, only 8 small populations remained on mainland Europe, holding about 1200 beaver (Ruairidh Campbell et al, 2007). The reintroduction of these animals in Europe have been extensively throughout their natural range in the period from 1922, and introduction continuous in a number part of Europe (Halley, 2003).
Beaver
The process of reintroduction involves unpredictable variables. It is human pretense or ingenuity want to bring back extinct species without a study or consequences of this reintroduction. The reintroduction had to considerate the ecologic conditions of an environment and the interaction between the extinct specie with the actual ones. When a specie that was extinct for a long time is reintroduced, the ecosystem can suffer. In the case of beavers, their dams, ponds and wetlands can have a cumulative effect in slowing water flow through catchments (Grasse, 1951) and the effects that they have on habitats and species are subjects of many studies. Their reintroduction effects also the instream wood debris, increasing it, the water quality, flow and temperature– help mitigating the negative effects of extreme flow conditions – and fish movement, although they are very unlikely to cause the extinction of any fish specie in Wales.
Beaver reintroduction also have economic impact. According to Jones, Beaver activities help to manage riparian and wetland sites and the benefits include food amelioration, sediment and pollution reduction. The beaver presence could provide benefits to local economies.
After watching the lecture, I realized that the reintroduction of an extinct specie can bring benefits for an area, but only if there is many ecological studies to avoid unexpected results.
Bio Enterprise and Employability 