Remember When Pikas Were Going to Be Wiped Off the Face of the Earth Due to Climate Change? Never Mind…
1st February 2016
The American pika is thought by many biologists to be a prime candidate for extirpation as the planet continues to warm, done in by temperatures too severe for this small mammal native to cold climates.
But a new study, published this week in the journal Global Change Biology, paints a different, more complex future for this rock-dwelling little lagomorph – the same order that includes rabbits and hares. Pikas may survive, even thrive, in some areas, the researchers say, while facing extirpation in others.
The research is important because pikas are considered a sentinel species for climate change impacts.
‘Sentinel species’ in eco-speak means ‘bloody shirt to wave to promote hysteria’. Just so you know.