Canadian beaver vs

Castor canadensis compared with Chrysococcus minutus

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Canadian beaver
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Chromista (Chromista)
Phylum	Chordata (cordados)	Ochrophyta (Ochrophyta)
Class	Mammalia (mamíferos)	Chrysophyceae (Chrysophyceae)
Order	Rodentia (Roedores)	Chromulinales (Chromulinales)
Family	Castoridae (Beavers)	Dinobryaceae
Genus	Castor (Beavers)	Chrysococcus
Species	Castor canadensis	Chrysococcus minutus

Conservation Status

Canadian beaver

NE — Not Evaluated

Population: ~15.0M

Trend: Stable →

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Canadian beaver
Diet	Herbivore	—
Average Lifespan	15 years	—
Average Length	1.0 m	—
Average Weight	25.0 kg	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Canadian beaver

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, forests, and vegetated habitats.

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (15 countries), North America (United States), and South America (Argentina, Chile).

Habitat

Native to Europe, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Distributed across Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

Canadian beaver

O maior roedor da América do Norte, o castor-canadense pode pesar até 32 kg e é um mestre engenheiro do ecossistema, habitando rios, lagos e áreas úmidas do Canadá e norte dos Estados Unidos. Ao derrubar árvores e construir barragens de até centenas de metros de comprimento, os castores criam lagoas que proporcionam habitat para centenas de espécies. Suas tocas e canais transformam bacias hidrográficas inteiras. Quase caçados até a extinção por sua pelagem, as populações de castor se recuperaram fortemente.

Chrysococcus minutus is a small loricate chrysophyte alga in the genus Chrysococcus, its epithet minutus (Latin: minute or very small) reflecting its diminutive cell dimensions. Like its congeners, the cell is enclosed within a lorica — a rigid, often silicified or organic housing with an apical pore through which the flagellum protrudes. The lorica shape and dimensions provide taxonomic characters for species differentiation within the genus. C. minutus inhabits freshwater environments, including oligotrophic lakes, bog pools, and slow-moving waters in temperate and subarctic regions. Chrysophytes thrive in cold, acidic, low-nutrient waters and serve as reliable bioindicators of water quality. The small cell size of C. minutus places it within the nanoplankton size class, making it an important prey item for heterotrophic nanoflagellates and small ciliates in the freshwater microbial food web. Some Chrysococcus species supplement photosynthesis with bacterivorous feeding. The species has not been evaluated for conservation status and is listed as Not Evaluated by the IUCN. Loricated chrysophytes like C. minutus leave fossil siliceous cysts (stomatocysts) in lake sediments, which are widely used in paleoecological reconstructions.