[Note: See US Government Finds that Pika is "Not at Risk" from Climate Change, WWF Climate Blog, 4 February 2010]

An article, Silence of the Pikas, in the January 2010 edition of BioScience Journal asks an important environmental and political question. “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?” In 2008, polar bears became the first species listed due to effects from a changing climate.

The American pika, a small relative of the rabbit usually found in rocky areas within alpine regions of the western United States and southwestern Canada, is facing the growing threat of climate change. This small animal is particularly vulnerable to climate change because it’s found in higher elevation areas with cool, relatively moist climates, and its territory consists of small, disconnected habitat “islands” in numerous mountain ranges.

According to BioScience, pikas have started disappearing from low-elevation sites in the more southern range of their distribution. Studies found the pika disappearance is most strongly associated with climatic factors; and overall hotter summers and cold snaps impact the pika more than solitary hot days.

Dr. Mary Peacock, population viability and conservation genetics expert from the University of Nevada Reno who has studied pika population genetics, said in the article:

The problem with global warming is that if [pikas] lose [their] snowpack, which provides insulation in winter, they freeze to death, and if the ambient air temperature heats up too much in summer, then they fry. That's the challenge. They're already at the top of the mountain. If you heat it up substantially, there's no place for them to go.

According to BioScience, pikas are unlikely to adapt quickly, if at all, to a changing environment from radical shifts in climate.

Lucas Moyer-Horner,  a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin who has been working on tracking and documenting pikas for the last three years, states “There's enough evidence to say that pikas are going to be among the first mammals adversely affected by climate change.” However, the question still remains whether the federal government will grant it endangered or threatened status due to climate change. In May of 2009, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced that enough evidence existed to consider listing the pika because of climate change, initiating a review. By May 2010, the federal government will announce its findings.

BioScience is calling the pika listing a test case on how the federal government will deal with the new world of species impacted by climate change. In 2008, the Bush administration (upheld by the Obama administration) listed the polar bear as a threatened species in its Alaskan habitat due to shrinking sea ice but added a special rule to prevent needed climate pollution reductions required for helping the species.

With this in mind and the administration on the verge of announcing its pika decision, the article presents an interesting question “Without imposing restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions and other human contributors to global warming, how would a federal or state agency even go about protecting declining habitat that is simply warmer?” 

 UPDATE: US Government Finds that Pika is "Not at Risk" from Climate Change (4 Feb. 2010)

Online Resources:

[Note: See also US Government Finds that Pika is "Not at Risk" from Climate Change, WWF Climate Blog, 4 February 2010 (posted two days after this posting]

• American Pika.  Site maintained by the Center for Biological Diversity.
• Fish and Wildlife Service to Conduct Status Review of the American Pika.  Press release (6 May 2009) from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
• WWF postings on species and climate change:
  • Climate's impact on species (WWF website)
  • Tigers in Trouble: Rising Seas Will Submerge Habitat of Sundarbans Tigers of Bangladesh (WWF blog, 20 January 2010)
  • Dramatic Footage Shows Consequences for Walruses as Arctic Warms (1 October 2009)
  • 163 new species now at risk of extinction due to climate change (WWF blog, 25 September 2009)
  • Montana is barometer for climate change with species such as grizzlies, wolverines, lynx and moose as important indicators (WWF blog, 20 November 2009)
  • America’s Hottest Species: A New Report on Climate Change and the Rising Risk of Species Extinction (WWF Blog, 1 December 2009)
  • IUCN Names 10 Species on Climate Change “Hit List" (WWF blog, 15 December 2009)
  • New Brochure from Wildlife Conservation Society Features Selection of Wildlife Threatened by climate change (WWF blog, 8 December 2009)
  • As Climate Changes, Species Must Race across Landscape to Adapt (WWF blog, 8 January 2010)
  • 10 species to watch in 2010 (WWF blog, 6 January 2009)
  • Climate Impacts on Ecosystems and Wildlife featured on ABC News Now (WWF blog, 28 May 2009)
  • New 5-year study by USGS and WWF to Examine Climate Change Impacts on Waterbirds (WWF Blog, 2 September 2009)
  • Online Resources: Climate Change Impacts on Ecosystems and Species (WWF blog,  11 Nov 2009)
  • Ducks Shift North out of Arkansas as Climate Changes; Researcher Expects Large Economic Losses for Arkansas (WWF blog, 16 November 2009)
  • Fisheries of Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf Shift as Climate Changes (WWF blog, 22 November 2009)