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| American pika were denied protection under the Endangered Species Act/ |
They were poised to become the first species endangered due to climate change in the lower 48 states, but … they didn't. The Center for Biological Diversity had petitioned the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) to consider each of the subspecies of American pika (Ochotona princeps) as either threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (which I wrote about in June: pikas threatened on the mountaintops). But after reviewing the latest scientific information, FWS decided to deny protection for the pika, announcing their decision on Thursday, February 4th.
These cute rabbit relatives live primarily in and among alpine talus slopes (aka boulder fields) throughout the West, and research has shown that many populations have disappeared. Biologists recently failed to document pikas at many locales wher they lived in the 20th century.
A couple of years ago, I hiked up talus slopes in search of pikas in Glacier National Park with graduate student Lucas Moyer-Horner, who has studied pikas in the park for the past several years. I wrote about his research and the species' dilemma in “Silence of the Pikas” in the January issue of Bioscience. Despite the fact that many pikas live near the tiptops of mountains in cold and wind-swept regions, they are one of few species that do not hibernate in winter. Instead, they live off of haypiles they created during the summer months. Pikas live solitary lives, each defending its own territory. And they're highly sensitive to microclimate and can't tolerate increases in temperature within ther homes in the spaces between boulders, or interstices, during both warm months or cold snaps if there's not enough snow-pack to insulate their homes.
The FWS does not deny the importance of climate change for natural communities. When deciding to review the species, spokesperson Diane Katzenberger said, “The Service knows that climate change is real. It is the biggest conservation challenge of our time.” FWS used NOAA-led computer models to predict temperatures in typical pika habitat will likely rise 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century. Conservation groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity and Earthjustice were not happy with the decision to not list the pika. Some think that the decision is political, given that deciding to list the species due to the threat of global warming could have opened the floodgates to innumerable more petitions for species threatened by climate change.
Source: http://blogs.discovery.com/animal_news/2010/02/pikas-denied-federal-protection.html
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