Consideration of tree types could enhance woodland resilience and galvanise beaver wellbeing, study suggests
An investigation by an ecological watchdog has provided new insights into how forest regeneration could also help fuel the keystone species.
Innovative planning in the design of fresh woodland developments could bolster the beaver population in Scotland, while lessening the impacts to trees in the surrounding area, according to a new report.
Highlighting the benefits of such strategies in Czechia, North America and the Danube River Basin, the joint research by Scottish environment regulator, NatureScot, and third-sector organisation, the Beaver Trust, proposes planting beaver-friendly and water resilient tree species such as rowan, hazel, willow, aspen, and birch within twenty metres of wooded riversides and lochs.
Taking into account the rodent's preference for these varieties, the study noted that they also had a tendency to be particularly resilient in resprouting after episodes of consumption by the animals.
Dr Jenny Bryce, lead on the project for NatureScot, said:
“Expanding our riverside woodlands and restoring beavers are both important priorities in tackling the nature loss and climate change crises.
“Woodlands along our rivers and lochs are hotspots of biodiversity, providing vital habitats and cooling shade and nutrients for our rivers, but recent research by NatureScot found that only 19% of riverbanks in Scotland are wooded.
“Beavers are nature’s engineers, helping to restore rivers and wetlands with benefits for many other species. However, beavers can affect existing and establishing riverside woodlands through browsing on trees and shrubs and through flooding.
“While there is more work to be done, we hope the useful guidance in this report will ensure newly created woodland can coexist with beavers, to the benefit of both”.
Dr Kelsey Wilson, lead author on behalf of Beaver Trust, said:
“Beavers play a crucial role in maintaining and enhancing natural woodland ecosystems through their unique ecological engineering.
“Their selective tree-felling opens the canopy, boosting understorey growth and supporting a greater diversity of plants, while the woody debris created by beaver foraging provides vital habitats for up to 40% of woodland wildlife, which depend on deadwood at some point in their life cycle.
“This report is a first step in understanding how we can design and manage riverside woodlands to thrive alongside beavers, rather than exclude them. The goal is to create adaptable woodlands that integrate beaver activity as a natural process, while still achieving Scotland’s planting targets”.
Meanwhile, a study by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the University of Cambridge has identified that bird populations had been boosted on arable sites hosting solar farms tailored towards conservation.
Detailing their findings in the "Bird Study" journal, researchers found that species such as greenfinches, corn buntings, yellowhammers and linnets could benefit from such initiatives.
Focusing on the East Anglia region, specifically the Fens portion, the analysis pinpointed that bird numbers and species diversity was greatest at these carefully-managed solar developments, when compared with arable land elsewhere in the sample area.
Dr Catherine Waite of the University of Cambridge, and co-author of the study, observed:
“Our study shows that if you manage solar energy production in a certain way, not only are you providing clean energy but benefitting biodiversity”.
The pilot looked at the contrast between solar farms with a mix of habitats within their boundaries, and those with what it termed ‘simpler’ associated habitat. Mixed habitat solar sites included the presence of hedgerows around the perimeter, and an absence of sheep grazing or grass cutting, promoting greater diversity of flowering plants, while simple habitats were intensively managed, with no hedgerows around their edges and a constant grazing by sheep.
Dr Joshua Copping, conservation scientist at the RSPB and lead author, said:
“With lots of demands on UK land, finding ways and space to reverse the long-term declines in a range of farmland birds is challenging.
"Species such as Corn Bunting, Greenfinch, Linnet and Yellowhammer have seen their populations dwindle and finding ways to help them is critical for their long- term survival”.
RSPB chief executive, Beccy Speight, added:
“Delivering a future that safeguards nature, tackles climate change, ensures food security and resilient farm businesses, and enables sustainable development is the only sensible path.
“This research shows that it is possible to balance competing needs.
“We need a strategic and spatial approach to planning for renewable energy to ensure that solar farms are built in areas of low risk for nature and where we can deliver on our nature recovery targets alongside our net zero targets”.
Meanwhile, a project anchored by the University of Edinburgh, looking into the genetic make-up of the red squirrel population in Scotland, has published its findings.
Scrutinising specimens collected as part of the red squirrel disease surveillance programme at the university's vet school, and from the archives of National Museums Scotland, the collaborative evaluated that red squirrels exhibit a lower level of genetic diversity than some of the globe’s most endangered animals, including the Iberian lynx and Amur tiger.
Urging continued genetic monitoring and interventions, the experts also emphasised the dual challenges to the movement of the rodents presented by ‘natural and man-made barriers’, such as the Cairngorm mountains and densely populated Central Belt cities, and proposed the potential mitigating strategy of translocation to enhance variety in the national red squirrel footprint.
Dr Melissa Marr, project lead, said:
“This is the first-time whole genomes have been used to study Scottish red squirrels. Historical records show that they have faced many threats in the past, and this is clearly reflected in their DNA which shows worryingly low levels of diversity. By highlighting this low genetic diversity, and how their populations are spread over the landscape, our findings offer critical new information to help secure the future of this iconic native species for generations to come”.
Dr Andrew Kitchener, senior curator of vertebrate biology at National Museums Scotland, said:
“Samples from red squirrels in our Natural Sciences collection from different populations in Britain covering the last 30 years have enabled this study to look at population changes over that time, and for any regional variation. This underlines the importance of collections like ours at National Museums Scotland, amassed over the long-term, which enables us to reflect changes in the environment over time. In addition to physical specimens, we have in recent years established a growing biobank of tissue samples, which are crucial in providing high quality DNA for whole genome studies such as this one”.