HR: 0800h
AN: B31B-0333    [Abstracts]
TI: Collared Pikas as a Model Species for Studying the Biological Impacts of Climate Change in Alpine Ecosystems
AU: * O'Donovan, K S
EM: kodonova@ualberta.ca
AF: University of Alberta, Dept of Biological Sciences CW-405 Biological Sciences Centre University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada
AU: Hik, D
EM: dhik@ualberta.ca
AF: University of Alberta, Dept of Biological Sciences CW-405 Biological Sciences Centre University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada
AB: Climate models suggest that global temperatures could rise between 1.4^o C and 5.8^o C over the next 100 years, and that these effects will be most extreme in northern mountain regions. Pikas (Ochotona, Lagomorpha) are widespread small mammals in the alpine environments of Asia and North America. They are cold adapted and consequently sensitive to warming global temperatures. Considerable research has shown a poleward migration of many species as a result of rising temperatures, but high alpine dwelling species, like the pika, may already be trapped at the top of mountains. Little is known about the threshold values of environmental conditions under which pikas either persist or disappear. Collared pikas (Ochotona collaris) inhabit alpine meadows in the Kluane region of the southwest Yukon. Sites located along an environmental gradient from nunataks in the St Elias Icefields to the Ruby Range Mountains have experienced different climatic and glacial histories. Using baseline data from the long-term study in the Ruby Ranges, we report on differences in the ecological and climatic conditions of sites along this gradient and how this translates into differences in the behavioural and population ecology of the pikas living there. By looking at these differences we can infer the potential impacts of a warming climate, and the subsequent ecological changes on collared pika populations in order to clarify the causes of local extinction and allow us to develop models for predicting ecological responses as conditions change under future climate regimes.
DE: 0410 Biodiversity
DE: 0439 Ecosystems, structure and dynamics (4815)
DE: 0720 Glaciers
DE: 1630 Impacts of global change (1225)
DE: 1699 General or miscellaneous
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting