"What happens when we find a pika Mama?” my 5 year old daughter asks me once again. Patiently, I explain that we are here in India’s Himalaya to collect information related to an Indian pika species. We will document the locations of pikas seen, record data on habitat characteristics, and install data loggers to record temperature throughout the year. I tell my daughter she can help by listening for pika calls, and pointing in the direction where they came from. This will help us to identify sites currently occupied by pikas, and we can then monitor these areas over time to track any changes in their distribution.
Royle's pika (Ochotona roylei) in Govind National Park, India
What I don't think she can understand yet are the larger ecological reasons why we are here. American pikas have been identified as an indicator species of climate change in alpine areas. Ongoing research on the American pika suggests that pikas are disappearing from locations that are losing sub-surface water resources. Given their ecological similarities, it's likely that Royle's pika plays a similar indicator role in the Himalaya, which supplies water resources for nearly 30% of the world's human population. As an ecologist, I can list a lot of scientific reasons why pikas are important. But as a parent, my motivation for being here is similar to the sentiments expressed by the pastoralist families around us; concern about a changing climate and a desire to give our children a better future.
Osla Village in the Har-ki-Dun Area; Uttarakhand, India
So we leave our familiar mountain community in Colorado for another one, ecologically similar but culturally very different. We feel at home here in the mountains, for the first time since moving to India. The intensity of the sun, the steepness of the terrain, the gentle murmuring of the creek as it tumbles over rocks—this is a language that we understand. For my small daughter, alpine field work in the Himalaya comes with the cultural bonus of being carried. As we leave Osla village for another long day of hiking and surveying, I hear my daughters voice again, this time asking "Can we have porters for the field work next summer back in Colorado ?"
Research colleague Sabuj Bhattacharyya (with the hat) and field crew members (from left to right) Surender Singh, RD Dhayan, and Raju Singh with my daughter (and her teddy bear)
Har-ki-Dun Forest Rest House Click this link for a story about our pika research in the Himalaya |
Click on these links for more information about the Fulbright program
Other places in Asia where pikas may be an indicator species
A plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) coming out of its' burrow on the Tibetan plateau; Qinghai province, western China
Heaven Lake in the Tianshan Mountains of China, prime habitat for the Ili pika (Ochotona Iliensis)