Beavers in an Urban Landscape

Abstract

Beavers immigrated to the Danube River near Bratislava in the 1980s. From 1984 to 1998 beavers have used 12 different locations for both long-term and short-term occupation in the Greater Bratislava area. We have developed a habitat classification system for use in an urban environment which includes human disturbance variables. In our system we consider the following habitat characteristics: 1) abundance of food, 2) water depth, 3) bank profile, 4) distance to a pedestrian walkway, 5) distance to a vehicular roadway, 6) degree of disturbance by humans, 7) duration of settlement, and 8) the number of times a location is resettled. Locations farther from Bratislava had higher habitat ratings, and were occupied for longer periods of time. Locations that are subjected to a high degree of human disturbance did not support long-term beaver settlements. While small-scale, local, human activity can influence beaver behavior, our observations indicate that large-scale human activities, such as the Gabcikovo Dam, have an even larger impact on the beaver population in the Greater Bratislava area.