The semiaquatic mammals - amongst them the beaver Castor fiber - are inhabitants of the land-water-ecotone, which is characterized by length and low depth.Due to specific adaptations to their habitats, semiaquatic mammals are highly dependent on the specific structures and resources of the ecotone riverbank. Anthropogenic influences on the ecotone riverbank often cause destruction of the resources that leads to a decrease of structural diversity.Being a primary consumer, the beaver mainly uses the water as a medium for locomotion and escape. The equipment of the riverbank, mainly the bankside vegetation, is of great importance concerning foraging. The presence and the quantity of certain biofacts like feeding or cutting places and scent mounds give a hint on the value of different structures and resources of the bankside with regard to certain modes of behaviour. They also give information on different qualities of the used and unused parts of the bankside.Biofacts of beaver-activity were recorded along 20 km of riverbank during a five-year-period. The results of the statistical analysis show that beavers - concerning species-specific mode of behaviour - prefer certain riverbank structures. Biofacts and near-natural structures such as steep bank, riparian forest and willows correlate significantly positive whereas biofacts and anthropogenic structures as slope, farmland or absence of woody plants show significantly negative correlation. There is a strong connection between the number of biofacts - that is use of the riverbank or slope - and structural diversity. Based on these results, an eco-ethological model has been developed which makes it possible to predict behaviour in dependence on the specific structures and resources of the banks and slopes of anthropogenic influenced streams.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uni-osnabrueck.de/oai:repositorium.ub.uni-osnabrueck.de:urn:nbn:de:gbv:700-2002041612 |
| Date | 16 April 2002 |
| Creators | Klenner-Fringes, Brigitte |
| Contributors | Prof. Dr. R. Schröpfer, Prof. Dr. M. Stubbe |
| Source Sets | Universität Osnabrück |
| Language | German |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | doc-type:doctoralThesis |
| Format | application/zip, application/pdf |
| Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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