Return of the beaver to the Netherlands:Viability and prospects of a re-introduced population

The extinction of animal species has undergone acceleration in the past century (Ehrlich & Ehrlich 1981 ). The main causes of animal extinctions are overkill, habitat impoverishment, and the impact of introduced species (Diamond 1989). The stablishment and protection of nature reserves is a necessary first step to limit the extinctions, but not much more than that. The reserves are often too small to sustain so-called minimum viable populations of especially the larger species (Belovsky 1987; Newmark 1987). These large species, mammalian herbivores in particular, may have a keystone functi... Mehr ...