Pikas have disappeared from some parts of the Great Basin, but climate change may not have been the cause.
#COOL COOL PIKKA SERIES#
A series of studies on a small number of marginal Great Basin sites formerly occupied by pikas has disproportionately contributed to the narrative that pikas are likely to become endangered. Many of these areas are in the Great Basin – a large desert region spanning most of Nevada and parts of Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon and California. These sites generally are lower and warmer than sites in pikas’ core range. In contrast, most sites where researchers believe that pikas have disappeared are small, isolated and often compromised by human activities, such as grazing by livestock. One study of historic pika sites across California’s Lassen, Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks found no evidence that pikas were moving to new sites or higher altitudes due to climate change. Today they occupy most of the available talus habitat in these areas – evidence that challenges the pikas-on-the-brink narrative.įor example, in recent surveys, pikas were found at 98% of 109 suitable sites in Colorado, and at 98% of 329 sites in the central Sierra Nevada.
Andrew Smith, CC BY-NDĪs the world’s climate warmed, pika populations retreated to the high mountains of the western U.S. American pikas live mainly in alpine and subalpine mountain areas extending south from central British Columbia and Alberta into the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico and the Sierra Nevada of California.
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