USGS Newsroom

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Mountain environments are cauldrons of climatic harshness, exhibiting sharp topographic, vegetative, and climatic gradients, providing scientists with a natural laboratory for studying pikas to use as a model for assessing species vulnerability to warming temperatures.  USGS research ecologist Erik Beever will tell us how these cute, tiny creatures are apparently adapting to changing conditions by moving to higher altitudes to stay cool and comfortable as temperatures gradually warm up at lower elevations, and to learn whether there may be similar species and indicators elsewhere in the animal kingdom.