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Pikas may be threatened by a warming world
A pika muses on its pile of rocks Aug. 13 at Sourdough Mountain in North Cascades National Park. Photo by Jason Bruggeman, Beartooth Wildlife Research via Seattle Times.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is studying whether pikas — fuzzy little cousins of the rabbit that prefer chilly temps and high altitudes — need protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Environmentalists are concerned that warming global temperatures will push pikas higher and higher, eventually eliminating their habitats altogether. (Temperatures above 78 degrees can kill the squeaky little critters.)
In Colorado, pikas are easy to find on the slopes of the state’s many fourteeners, but scientists are concerned about their futures. Rsearchers have recently been studying the pika populations in Rocky Mountain National Park, trying to figure out how many of the animals live there now so they can better understand how those populations are affected as the climate changes.
Historical baseline data for number of pikas in the park don’t exist.
“The way it was, there were so many pikas no one thought to count them,” said Judy Visty, park ecologist.
Scientists in the North Cascades National Park are starting a one-year study that is also aimed at establishing a baseline count of pika populations.
This from today’s Seattle Times:
Some wildlife advocates warn that pikas, with their preference for the cool, lofty high country, are at risk of extinction throughout the West by the end of the century as the climate warms. They have sued the feds to determine whether the animal should be listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
But others say losses of some local populations don’t spell extinction risk for an animal still abundant in many places.
A decision is due from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by February.
Meanwhile, in a separate effort, scientists are studying pika populations at North Cascades National Park, in a first-ever, one-year pilot study funded by Seattle City Light, which tracks habitat in the North Cascades, where it operates hydroelectric dams. The study is intended to build a baseline of data about where pika are presently found.
“Climate change is the biggest issue facing our national parks,” said Chip Jenkins, park superintendent. “Scientists have determined that our climate is changing, and it is changing rapidly. What we are doing is looking for key indicators, key species that are likely to be the ones that show the first response to climate change.”
Read more of this story at www.seattletimes.com, learn more about our local pikas from Stephen Jones and Ruth Carol Cushman, authors of the Boulder County Nature Almanac, at dailycamera.com or read about the Fish and Wildlife Service’s recent decision to study whether 20 plants, six snails, two insects and a fish may warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act.
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[...] Pikas may be threatened by a warming world [...]
[...] also looking into a half-dozen other Colorado species for the first time, including two animals (American pikas and black-tailed prairie dogs), three plants (Parachute penstemons, DeBeque Pachelias and Pagosa [...]