Andriy Gura

Carmel High

School

Junior Year

DOES PREDATOR

URINE DETER

BEAVERS (CASTOR

CANADENSIS) FROM

BUILDING DAMS?

http://animalia-life.com/beaver.html

INTRODUCTION

Almost went extinct in the early 1900’s

Largest rodent found in North America

Referred to as Ecosystem Engineers

Teeth contain great

amounts of iron

http://www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress/faq/why-are-beaver-teeth-orange/ http://www.franksfurs.com/mensbeaverfurhat.aspx

Considered pests because of dams and tree

removal

Certain dams can break and it can create

floods

Beavers are very territorial

Are monogamous

INTRODUCTION (CONTINUED)

BEAVERS IN TEATOWN

Inhabit Shadow Lake, Vernay Lake, and Teatown Lake

Number of Beavers are unknown

Typically one colony consisting of 2 adults and up to 8 kits

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/beaver-family-peggy-collins.html

To determine whether Wolf urine

deter beavers from building dams in

a certain area.

To figure out whether dams affect

water quality in spillways

OBJECTIVE

METHODS

PREVIOUS METHODS USED IN TEATOWN

Used “Beaver

Peavers”

Put pipes from

lake to spillway

Used fencing

Gather Materials:

HC600 HyperFire High Output Covert

IR

Pitchforks

Wolf Urine

Wolf Duplicate

FluoroSense™ Handheld Fluorometer

HI98129 pH/Conductivity/TDS Tester

Hach Dr 900 Multi-Parameter

Handheld Colorimeter

METHODS (CONTINUED)

Control Group (2 days):

Set up cameras

Take Dam apart

Cameras capture photos

METHODS (CONTINUED)

Experimental Wolf

Urine (2 days):

Attach cloth covered in

wolf pee over spill ways

Let cameras capture

Beavers activity

METHODS (CONTINUED)

Experimental Wolf

Duplicate and Urine (2 days):

Attach cloth covered in wolf

pee over spill ways

Place Wolf duplicate near

spillway

Let cameras capture Beavers

activity

METHODS (CONTINUED)

Water Quality

Testing (everyday):

Gather sample from lake

and spillway

Tear dam apart

Re-take sample from

spillway

METHODS (CONTINUED)

Lab Work :

Take Nitrate levels of

each sample

Take Phosphate

levels of each

sample

METHODS (CONTINUED)

RESULTS

*picture or video of beavers in only wolf pee situation*

RESULTS (CONTINUED)

RESULTS

0

5

10

15

20

25

Before After

Alg

ae

(rf

u)

Spillway

Algae Levels

RESULTS (CONTINUED)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Before After

pH

Spillway

pH Levels

RESULTS (CONTINUED)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

Before After

Co

nd

ucti

vity

(µ

S/cm

)

Spillway

Conductivity Levels

RESULTS (CONTINUED)

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2

Before After

Nit

rate

(m

g/L

)

Spillway

Nitrate Levels

RESULTS (CONTINUED)

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

Before After

Ph

osp

ha

te (

mg

/L

)

Spillway

Phosphate Levels

DISCUSSION

Scent of wolf urine may have weakened

Scent may have driven beavers to build more

so they could keep water to build up for more

protection

Beavers may not recognize scent

DISCUSSION (CONTINUED)

May have realized that it was not living and

continued to work

Did not recognize natural predator and saw no

movement so did not fear

DISCUSSION (CONTINUED)

Spillways water quality evened out with the

lake water flowing into it

The increase in water quality will have a major

impact on organisms living in the stream

Wolf Urine did not deter Beavers

from building their dams in the

spillways

Dams altered water quality in the

spillways

CONCLUSION

I’d like to thank my

family, Dylan Spedaliere,

the 2016 class of TESA,

Hillary, and Rebecca.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS