A Biochemical-Genetic Discrimination Method for the two Beaver Species, Castor Fiber and Castor Canadensis, as a Tool for Conservation

Sieber, Johanna; Suchentrunk, Franz; Hartl, Günther B.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-4781-5_10

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The possible presence of North American beavers among the Bavarian population has been hinted at by various authors, although no rigorous proof has ever been published (e.g. Sieber et al. 1999, Wurzel et al.…”

Section: Presence Of North American Beavers In Western Europementioning

confidence: 99%

Recovery and status of native and introduced beavers Castor fiber and Castor canadensis in France and neighbouring countries

Dewas¹,

Herr²,

Schley³

et al. 2011

Mammal Review

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The Eurasian beaver Castor fiber suffered a drastic reduction in both geographical range and population size, due to human persecution, until the end of the 19th century. After the adoption of protection measures, natural expansion and reintroductions led to the recovery of this species over much of its European range. We review historical events that led to the recovery of beavers in France, and summarize the status of beavers in various river systems. Beaver establishment in France is a story of overall success: several major river systems are presently occupied, so that the species is no longer at risk in France. However, beaver recolonization took place in parallel with increasing human impacts on the environment. In addition to natural limiting factors, anthropogenic factors impeded beaver settlement in many areas. Today, beavers often occupy suboptimal habitats and, as a consequence, come into conflict with human activities. Effective solutions for preventing beaver damage include the restoration of riparian habitats to discourage crop damage and the provision of physical barriers to protect crops. Beaver populations reintroduced into France all originate from the relict Rhône population. However, in recent years, beavers from populations in neighbouring countries have been expanding into north‐eastern France. Therefore, our review of beaver origin and distribution in these countries may contribute to the development of appropriate national management strategies and towards important decisions, e.g. the decision to try to keep Rhône beavers genetically isolated, or to allow populations to mix. The recently discovered presence of North American beavers Castor canadensis in three countries surrounding France has raised an important issue. This species may out‐compete C. fiber in places where the species come into contact. A programme based on field‐trapping sessions and genetic analyses has recently been initiated in some western countries in order to eradicate this non‐native species.

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Section: Presence Of North American Beavers In Western Europementioning

confidence: 99%

Recovery and status of native and introduced beavers Castor fiber and Castor canadensis in France and neighbouring countries

Dewas¹,

Herr²,

Schley³

et al. 2011

Mammal Review

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“…Not only the phylogenetic placement of beavers within rodents is not completely understood, little is also known about the timing of the speciation event leading to the two extant beaver species. Both have a strikingly similar phenotype, making them almost indistinguishable in the field; therefore molecular methods are applied to differentiate them [1] , [9] . Despite the morphological similarities, subtle morphological and biochemical features and different chromosome numbers support their distinction as different species [10] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitochondrial Genomes Reveal Slow Rates of Molecular Evolution and the Timing of Speciation in Beavers (Castor), One of the Largest Rodent Species

et al. 2011

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BackgroundBeavers are one of the largest and ecologically most distinct rodent species. Little is known about their evolution and even their closest phylogenetic relatives have not yet been identified with certainty. Similarly, little is known about the timing of divergence events within the genus Castor.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe sequenced complete mitochondrial genomes from both extant beaver species and used these sequences to place beavers in the phylogenetic tree of rodents and date their divergence from other rodents as well as the divergence events within the genus Castor. Our analyses support the phylogenetic position of beavers as a sister lineage to the scaly tailed squirrel Anomalurus within the mouse related clade. Molecular dating places the divergence time of the lineages leading to beavers and Anomalurus as early as around 54 million years ago (mya). The living beaver species, Castor canadensis from North America and Castor fiber from Eurasia, although similar in appearance, appear to have diverged from a common ancestor more than seven mya. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that a migration of Castor from Eurasia to North America as early as 7.5 mya could have initiated their speciation. We date the common ancestor of the extant Eurasian beaver relict populations to around 210,000 years ago, much earlier than previously thought. Finally, the substitution rate of Castor mitochondrial DNA is considerably lower than that of other rodents. We found evidence that this is correlated with the longer life span of beavers compared to other rodents.Conclusions/SignificanceA phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial genome sequences suggests a sister-group relationship between Castor and Anomalurus, and allows molecular dating of species divergence in congruence with paleontological data. The implementation of a relaxed molecular clock enabled us to estimate mitochondrial substitution rates and to evaluate the effect of life history traits on it.

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Subspecies of the Eeuropean beaverCastor fiber Linnaeus, 1758

Gabryś

Ważna

2003

Acta Theriol

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A Biochemical-Genetic Discrimination Method for the two Beaver Species, Castor Fiber and Castor Canadensis, as a Tool for Conservation

Cited by 3 publications

References 2 publications

Recovery and status of native and introduced beavers Castor fiber and Castor canadensis in France and neighbouring countries

Recovery and status of native and introduced beavers Castor fiber and Castor canadensis in France and neighbouring countries

Mitochondrial Genomes Reveal Slow Rates of Molecular Evolution and the Timing of Speciation in Beavers (Castor), One of the Largest Rodent Species

Subspecies of the Eeuropean beaverCastor fiber Linnaeus, 1758

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