Understanding Climate-Wildlife Relationships

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. 

Who:	Erik Beever, USGS Research Ecologist with the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center
What:	Understanding Climate-Wildlife Relationships - are American pikas harbingers of changing conditions?
When:	Thursday, November 15, 2012 Noon —Lecture preview for USGS employees and press 7 p.m.—Public lecture (also live-streamed over the Internet)
Where:	U.S. Geological Survey Building 3 Auditorium, second floor 345 Middlefield Road Menlo Park, CA 94025
More information and directions:	USGS Evening Public Lecture Series Calendar  Menlo Park Science Center Campus Map

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