研究ers optimistic after beaver sighted on OU campus

A recent beaver sighting on the campus of 365英国上市官网 has researchers optimistic about what the animal’s return to the OU Biological Preserve could mean for the ecosystem.

“Having a beaver in the Preserve suggests an important increase in biological diversity, 他们帮助促进, and is incredibly important considering our Preserve is one of the few remaining large patches of native habitat in the area,”医生说。. Sandra Troxell-Smith, a special lecturer in the Department of Biological 科学 at OU.

“From a biological perspective, we are thrilled about this discovery,” Troxell-Smith added. “We can document and witness first-hand the effects of the beaver returning to the area on other species, and their impacts on overall biodiversity and the ecosystem.”

Dr. 托马斯Raffel, an associate professor of biological sciences at OU, said the presence of beavers on OU’s campus represents a unique opportunity to study beaver foraging ecology.

“Beavers are ecosystem engineers whose wetlands and meadows used to dominate many North American stream systems,拉斐尔说. “Their activities create habitats for hundreds of other species, including red spotted newts. 海狸通常被认为是害虫, but they provide important benefits like moderating floods and droughts, 净化的水, 封存温室气体, and increasing landscape biodiversity.”

曾大量分布于密歇根州东南部, extensive hunting and habitat loss in the area in the 1800s caused their near extinction.

“Beavers have been slowly coming back to the area, and while some faculty in our department have previously noted evidence of beaver in the preserve, 比如咀嚼过的树, we weren’t able to locate a dam or a beaver lodge until now,Troxell-Smith说.

Troxell-Smith began monitoring the beaver population in December 2023 after a fellow faculty member mentioned that they had noticed flooding in the preserve and discovered a dam nearby.

“I then placed several cameras in the area to document activity, including the beaver’s lodge or ‘home,’”她说。. “到目前为止, only a single beaver has been present in the images/videos at a time, so we are still unsure whether there is more than one or not. Beavers are a species that lacks sexual dimorphism, so males and females are very hard to distinguish. Hopefully continued monitoring will answer that question for us soon.”

Since the beaver was first observed in the OU Preserve, faculty from the Biological 科学 and English departments — with assistance from the Native American Advisory Committee — have been working together to understand the needs of the beaver, and are in active discussions with various departments on campus to come up with a solution that best serves the beaver and the greater OU community.

“We’re eager to learn or remember how to co-exist with the beaver,Andrea Knutson说, an associate professor of English at OU. “We need to figure this out for the health and well-being of a multi-species future that will benefit our planet. It was their commercial value that nearly wiped this species out, and I’d like to see if we can learn how to respect this incredible creature, 欢迎他们回家, 为他们腾出空间.”

Knutson is also co-chair of the Native American Advisory Committee and has been working with Ashleigh Dubie (tribal affiliation Cherokee), a former OU student and IB Literature teacher at International Academy Okma in Bloomfield Hill, 密歇根州., to monitor beaver activity in the OU Preserve.

“The beaver – Amik in Ojibwe — is a sacred animal relative that we can learn from and have a reciprocal relationship with,杜比说. “By monitoring its impact on the environment it has decided to now call home we should in turn be making decisions to help the beaver thrive, 正如我们目前正在努力做的那样. This is what Indigenous relationships with the environment look like and have looked for thousands of years — scientifically proven relationships that indicate reciprocal care. We — Native and non-Native community members alike — are lucky to bear witness to this on OU’s campus.”

欲了解更多信息，请访问 www.奥克兰.edu/biology/preserve. 你也可以享受 公开大学校园里海狸的视频，以及…… photos of other wildlife in the OU Preserve.