Science and evidence to underpin the reintroduction of Beavers in Great Britain

In this talk we describe the journey that we are on researching the impact of beaver reintroduction in Great Britain. We take a transdisciplinary approach whereby our research questions are co-created with a very wide range of stakeholders and our methods are drawn from social science, remote sensing, environmental economics, ecology and physical geography. We present our perspectives on beaver impacts on the landscape, summarising the research to date and outlining the ways in which research can influence both policy around beaver reintroduction and the management of animals across a spectrum of diverse ecosystems. We show that publics are highly engaged in beaver reintroduction, but that knowledge of beavers varies dramatically across sectors. We highlight both the positive and negative impacts of beavers on water resources, including flood attenuation and water quality. Our results also show that the quality of habitat for beaver reintroduction can be modelled, mapped and used to understand the probability of beaver dams occurring at large catchment scales, as well as both the opportunities and conflicts that such dams might bring. We conclude with a summary of the policy and management situation in GB with respect to beavers, illustrating how dynamic it is and where lie the key areas of future research to support widespread beaver reintroduction in coming years.