From studying beavers in Cornwall, your research shows how beavers stop flooding and filter polluted water that saves farmlands and houses from further destruction. What do you find so exceptional about these structures?
Beaver dams are unique; each one being a different height, length, width and built from different materials, so they each deliver different water storage, flood attenuation and filtration of water that flows through, over and around them. As such, I think the most exceptional aspect of beaver dams is their variability, through space and time – as beaver dams are rebuilt, fixed-up and repaired every night by these very industrious animals.
Although beavers have been studied extensively over the past several decades, do you believe the general public still has misconceptions about these species?
At least in the UK, where beavers have been absent for probably 600 years, the general public have very little contact with these animals, so it is not surprising that even the most basic background knowledge of these animals was pretty well non-existent until the last decade or so. As the research continues and is picked up by lots of audiences, different media etc… the understanding of what these animals are, what they do and why they are so integral to healthy freshwaters is becoming more widely known and understood, which has been great to be a part of over the last decade or so.