Aboriginal beaver Castor fiber pohlei as a keystone and flagship species in strong protected areas of Western Siberia

The aboriginal Western Siberian beaver ( Castor fiber pohlei Serebrennikov 1929) is a keystone species of protection on the territory of the Malaya Sosva State Nature Reserve and its structural subdivision, the Verkhne-Kondinsky nature reserve. Beavers are included in the Red Book of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra (2013) and the Red Book of the Russian Federation (2021). Their conservation is possible by complex measures, including a strict protection of the territory, genetic screening, and to ensure the reliability of prospects, modeling of population dynamics. An assessment of the habitat conditions and the state of the main subpopulation in the Konda River basin was carried out. The simulation results indicate that the population has already reached the maximum size and has a minimal growth (ca. 1 per cent/year). The reasons for this situation are the almost complete population of suitable biotopes (the quality of all beaver habitats corresponds to the III class) and the lack of territories free for further settlemen