Trivia Junction

A Compendium of trivia I find interesting
...for the curious

Them Dam'd Beavers...

Canadian researchers surveying the abundance and diversity of amphibians in the boreal forests of Canada have discovered that frogs and toads seem to fare best – if they fare well at all – in places also occupied by beavers.

That's because the dam-building beavers create ponds and wetlands crucial to the amphibians, whose overall populations are declining due, in part, to disappearing habitat.

Researchers at the University of Alberta captured (temporarily) 5.7 times more wood frogs, 29 times more western toads and 24 times more boreal chorus frogs at 54 targeted beaver ponds than they did at nearby free-flowing streams.

Beaver ponds are particularly well-suited to amphibians. They create pools of warm, well-oxygenated water, which enhance the reproductive rates of amphibians, and they are less hospitable to predatory fish because they tend to be on small streams where winterkill conditions are common.

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