Foods Consumed by Beavers in Crawford County, Pennsylvania

Feeding habits of reintroduced Eurasian beaver: spatial and seasonal variation in the use of food resources

“…The majority of information on the beavers' foraging behaviour originates from studies on American beavers Castor canadensis (Jenkins, 1975, 1979, 1980; Belovsky, 1984; Johnston & Naiman, 1990; Doucet & Fryxell, 1993; Fryxell & Doucet, 1993; Macdonald et al , 1995; Nolet, 1996; Donkor & Fryxell, 1999; Fryxell, 2001; Raffel et al , 2009), and less information exists on the foraging behaviour of the Eurasian beaver (Simonsen, 1973; Histøl, 1989; Nolet, Hoekstra & Ottenheim, 1994; Haarberg & Rosell, 2006). Many of these results inform about beavers' browsing preference for particular woody plant species (Brenner, 1962; Aleksiuk, 1970; Jenkins, 1980; Nolet et al , 1994; Donkor & Fryxell, 1999; O'Connell et al , 2008). The use of non‐woody vegetation during the vegetation season has frequently been mentioned, but has been examined quantitatively only in a few studies (Northcott, 1971; Simonsen, 1973; Svendsen, 1980; Roberts & Arner, 1984; Histøl, 1989).…”

“…Tevis, 1950 75%; Histøl, 1989 62%; Nolet et al , 1995 64%; this study). Beavers are also highly selective in their choice of woody plants (Brenner, 1962; Fryxell & Doucet, 1991). Both the American and the Eurasian beaver feed primarily on Salicaceae (Erome & Broyer, 1984; Nolet et al , 1994; Fustec et al , 2001; Haarberg & Rosell, 2006).…”

The Seasonal Food Regime of Arctic Beavers

“…The inefficiency is especially evident when compared to summer food habits at more southerly latitudes, where the entire sapling is utilized (less the woody core), when indeed it is used at all. In fact, southern populations are known to depend extensively on a variety of emergent and terrestrial nonwoody plants during the summer (Brenner 1962;Semyonoff 1951;among others). The dependence in the North on willow leaves and tips is probably associated with the low species diversity of northern plant communities.…”

Beaver increase in Ontario. Result of changing environment

“…Conversion of daily food requirements reported by Brenner (1962) are shown in Table 2. On the assumption that one adult beaver consumes 0.662 kg of food per day, its annual consumption would be 241.6 kg of woody vegetation.…”

“…On the assumption that one adult beaver consumes 0.662 kg of food per day, its annual consumption would be 241.6 kg of woody vegetation. One Food consumption according to Banfield (1974) and Brenner (1962) Excrenent production (60% of food consumed) is an average for a herbivore.…”