Scent-sniffing dogs can discriminate between native Eurasian and invasive North American beavers
The invasion of a species can cause population reduction or extinction of a similar native species due to replacement competition. There is a potential risk that the native Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) may eventually be competitively excluded by the invasive North American beaver (C. canadensis) f...
Published in: | Scientific Reports |
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ftunivhelsihelda:oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/307768 2024-01-07T09:42:37+01:00 Scent-sniffing dogs can discriminate between native Eurasian and invasive North American beavers Rosell, Frank Cross, Hannah B. Johnsen, Christin B. Sundell, Janne Zedrosser, Andreas Biological stations Lammi Biological Station 2019-12-02T13:23:01Z 9 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10138/307768 eng eng Nature Publishing Group 10.1038/s41598-019-52385-1 We would like to thank Beate Jaspers (and her dogs) who gave up her time for the project. We would also like to thank Frode Bergen, Howard Parker and Sauli Harkonen for suppling us with the castor sacs from the shot beavers, and Anke Benten and Yasmin Dawson for help collecting the beaver scent marks in the field. Lastly, we would like to thank Charlotte Holmstad Arnesen for helping with the statistical analyses. This study was funded by the University College of Southeast Norway. Rosell , F , Cross , H B , Johnsen , C B , Sundell , J & Zedrosser , A 2019 , ' Scent-sniffing dogs can discriminate between native Eurasian and invasive North American beavers ' , Scientific Reports , vol. 9 , 15952 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-52385-1 ORCID: /0000-0001-6348-6296/work/65668993 610d762e-d509-494a-883e-910a481b915b http://hdl.handle.net/10138/307768 000493898100060 cc_by openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess SCAT DETECTION DOGS CASTOR-CANADENSIS RED SQUIRRELS INTERSPECIFIC COMPETITION OLFACTORY DETECTION PROSTATE-CANCER GREY SQUIRRELS FIBER MANAGEMENT FAMILIARIS 1181 Ecology evolutionary biology Article publishedVersion 2019 ftunivhelsihelda 2023-12-14T00:09:38Z The invasion of a species can cause population reduction or extinction of a similar native species due to replacement competition. There is a potential risk that the native Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) may eventually be competitively excluded by the invasive North American beaver (C. canadensis) from areas where they overlap in Eurasia. Yet currently available methods of census and population estimates are costly and time-consuming. In a laboratory environment, we investigated the potential of using dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) as a conservation tool to determine whether the Eurasian or the North American beaver is present in a specific beaver colony. We hypothesized that dogs can discriminate between the two beaver species, via the odorant signal of castoreum from males and females, in two floor platform experiments. We show that dogs detect scent differences between the two species, both from dead beaver samples and from scent marks collected in the field. Our results suggest that dogs can be used as an "animal biosensor" to discriminate olfactory signals of beaver species, however more tests are needed. Next step should be to test if dogs discern between beaver species in the field under a range of weather conditions and habitat types and use beaver samples collected from areas where the two species share the same habitat. So far, our results show that dogs can be used as a promising tool in the future to promote conservation of the native beaver species and eradication of the invasive one. We therefore conclude that dogs may be an efficient non-invasive tool to help conservationist to manage invasive species in Europe, and advocate for European wildlife agencies to invest in this new tool. Peer reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository Scientific Reports 9 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivhelsihelda |
language |
English |
topic |
SCAT DETECTION DOGS CASTOR-CANADENSIS RED SQUIRRELS INTERSPECIFIC COMPETITION OLFACTORY DETECTION PROSTATE-CANCER GREY SQUIRRELS FIBER MANAGEMENT FAMILIARIS 1181 Ecology evolutionary biology |
spellingShingle |
SCAT DETECTION DOGS CASTOR-CANADENSIS RED SQUIRRELS INTERSPECIFIC COMPETITION OLFACTORY DETECTION PROSTATE-CANCER GREY SQUIRRELS FIBER MANAGEMENT FAMILIARIS 1181 Ecology evolutionary biology Rosell, Frank Cross, Hannah B. Johnsen, Christin B. Sundell, Janne Zedrosser, Andreas Scent-sniffing dogs can discriminate between native Eurasian and invasive North American beavers |
topic_facet |
SCAT DETECTION DOGS CASTOR-CANADENSIS RED SQUIRRELS INTERSPECIFIC COMPETITION OLFACTORY DETECTION PROSTATE-CANCER GREY SQUIRRELS FIBER MANAGEMENT FAMILIARIS 1181 Ecology evolutionary biology |
description |
The invasion of a species can cause population reduction or extinction of a similar native species due to replacement competition. There is a potential risk that the native Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) may eventually be competitively excluded by the invasive North American beaver (C. canadensis) from areas where they overlap in Eurasia. Yet currently available methods of census and population estimates are costly and time-consuming. In a laboratory environment, we investigated the potential of using dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) as a conservation tool to determine whether the Eurasian or the North American beaver is present in a specific beaver colony. We hypothesized that dogs can discriminate between the two beaver species, via the odorant signal of castoreum from males and females, in two floor platform experiments. We show that dogs detect scent differences between the two species, both from dead beaver samples and from scent marks collected in the field. Our results suggest that dogs can be used as an "animal biosensor" to discriminate olfactory signals of beaver species, however more tests are needed. Next step should be to test if dogs discern between beaver species in the field under a range of weather conditions and habitat types and use beaver samples collected from areas where the two species share the same habitat. So far, our results show that dogs can be used as a promising tool in the future to promote conservation of the native beaver species and eradication of the invasive one. We therefore conclude that dogs may be an efficient non-invasive tool to help conservationist to manage invasive species in Europe, and advocate for European wildlife agencies to invest in this new tool. Peer reviewed |
author2 |
Biological stations Lammi Biological Station |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rosell, Frank Cross, Hannah B. Johnsen, Christin B. Sundell, Janne Zedrosser, Andreas |
author_facet |
Rosell, Frank Cross, Hannah B. Johnsen, Christin B. Sundell, Janne Zedrosser, Andreas |
author_sort |
Rosell, Frank |
title |
Scent-sniffing dogs can discriminate between native Eurasian and invasive North American beavers |
title_short |
Scent-sniffing dogs can discriminate between native Eurasian and invasive North American beavers |
title_full |
Scent-sniffing dogs can discriminate between native Eurasian and invasive North American beavers |
title_fullStr |
Scent-sniffing dogs can discriminate between native Eurasian and invasive North American beavers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Scent-sniffing dogs can discriminate between native Eurasian and invasive North American beavers |
title_sort |
scent-sniffing dogs can discriminate between native eurasian and invasive north american beavers |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10138/307768 |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_relation |
10.1038/s41598-019-52385-1 We would like to thank Beate Jaspers (and her dogs) who gave up her time for the project. We would also like to thank Frode Bergen, Howard Parker and Sauli Harkonen for suppling us with the castor sacs from the shot beavers, and Anke Benten and Yasmin Dawson for help collecting the beaver scent marks in the field. Lastly, we would like to thank Charlotte Holmstad Arnesen for helping with the statistical analyses. This study was funded by the University College of Southeast Norway. Rosell , F , Cross , H B , Johnsen , C B , Sundell , J & Zedrosser , A 2019 , ' Scent-sniffing dogs can discriminate between native Eurasian and invasive North American beavers ' , Scientific Reports , vol. 9 , 15952 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-52385-1 ORCID: /0000-0001-6348-6296/work/65668993 610d762e-d509-494a-883e-910a481b915b http://hdl.handle.net/10138/307768 000493898100060 |
op_rights |
cc_by openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1787423655851982848 |