Silence of the Pikas

January 2010 BioScience Feature

Author Wendee Holtcamp

Pikas are unique among alpine mammals in that they gather up vegetation throughout summer--including flowers, grasses, leaves, evergreen needles, and even pine cones--and live off the hay pile throughout winter, rather than hibernating or moving downslope. But increasingly warm temperatures may drive them to the brink: the high-energy mammals can overheat and die at temperatures as mild as 25 degrees Celsius if they can't regulate their body temperature by moving into the cooler microclimate under the talus. And since they already live near the tops of mountains, when a particular talus field's microclimate becomes inhospitable, they simply have nowhere to go. Will the American pika become the first species in the lower 48 states to be listed under the Endangered Species Act owing to global warming?

Read More http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/bio.2010.60.1.3