Future could be rocky for pikas

Editor's note: This story was originally published Nov. 11, 2008.

Bald Mountain, Uinta Mountains » The tricky task of hopping across the unstable rock field was becoming tedious, tiring and dangerous. We were searching for pikas, a small mammal related to rabbits that lives in talus fields in high elevation areas across the western United States.

The distinctive alarm call of the furry little creatures -- resembling a small goat being squeezed by a too-adoring child -- let us know pikas were in the area, but they were proving elusive.

Theorizing that the timid animals might be a little threatened by a group of four humans, we broke up to continue looking. Venturing off on my own, I decided to do more stopping and observing than rushing and falling on the sharp rocks.

The reward was immediate. A flash of brown fur ripped through the rocks not 20 feet away. I remained motionless and, after several more streaks, the pika -- Ochotona princeps uinta -- finally revealed itself. Eventually, the little creatures were practically posing for us.

I had seen pikas during high-elevation hikes in the past, but it was usually just in passing. I had never taken time to just sit and watch.

I'm not alone. The American pika largely has been ignored by the scientific community and state and federal wildlife agencies. But suddenly, due to climate change, global warming or whatever you choose to call it, pikas are important. At least, more people are paying attention to them.

Because of their unique niche in nature and specialized high-altitude lifestyle, pikas have become a "canary in a coal mine" indicator in the global warming controversy.

"Many people consider them an indicator species of what is happening," Kevin Labrum, a sensitive species biologist for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) said after that morning on the talus slopes of Bald Mountain. "The can't go any higher than they are. If it gets too warm they will probably disappear. There is just nowhere else for them to go."

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in October 2007 to list the American pika under the federal Endangered Species Act. The center followed up in August 2008 by filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to hasten the process.

Because little to no research has been done on pikas in Utah and across the country, state wildlife officials began the research process by conducting occupancy studies this summer. Biologists used computer models to predict where the best pika habitat is found in Utah and then visited the

"We used visual sightings, scat piles, food reserves and vocalizations as indicators that there was occupancy on the sites," Labrum said. "We found that nearly every plot that has the right size talus and right forage conditions has pikas. I would not say they are rare, just unique to their habitat."

Because so little is known about historical populations of pikas and the potential risk to their habitat, DWR biologists listed the animals as a Tier III species in the Utah Wildlife Action Plan. Such species are at the top of the list when it comes to prioritizing projects and research.

One scientist who has studied pikas is Denise Dearing, a University of Utah biology professor who wrote her doctoral thesis project on the diet of pikas in Colorado.

Pikas don't hibernate like other non-migrating mammals in winter climates. They spend their time harvesting vegetation and storing it in haystacks or hay piles to feed on during the winter.

Dearing's research focused on the pikas' two diets: the one they eat in the summer months and the one they store for the long months while they live under the snow.

"I found that 80 percent of the winter storage included a plant that is really toxic," Dearing said. "They are generalist herbivores in the summer, but specialists in the winter."

Dearing discovered that the hay piles were dominated by plants containing toxic phenolic compounds. Further research showed plants with the compounds inhibited bacteria, acting like a preservative.

"Kind of like a fancy lettuce -- the hay piles would rot much faster without it," Dearing said. "The phenol allows them to store food for a longer time and makes it not so toxic by the time they eat it."

During her research, Dearing documented an average hay pile size of 28 kilograms (61.6 pounds). That represents around 14,000 foraging trips to create the stockpile. The pikas Dearing studied were dependent on the haystacks for an average of 175 days, but showed they were prepared for the worst by storing enough for 350 days.

That's impressive, but having a year's worth of food will do little to help pikas if average temperatures continue to climb, a fear the Center for Biological Diversity expressed in its petition to the Fish and Wildlife Service to list the mammal as a threatened or endangered species.

"We are working with all the regional offices that have pikas in their areas and are in the midst of analyzing the scientific validity of the petition to see if we need to do our own," said Kevin McAbee, an ecologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Salt Lake field office, which is taking the lead for the agency on the 90-day finding for the petition.