QRC members lead and participate in a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary research projects from the study of past earth climates and glaciations to shifts in the geographic distributions and evolution of vegetation and faunal communities, to the evolution and dispersals of the genus Homo and the increasing scales of human modification of earth environments through the Holocene. QRC provides a venue for meeting and collaborating with scholars across Quaternary disciplines. We are also fortunate to be able to provide seed funding and small grants for member research projects. We are especially happy to support grad student and junior scholar research activities, much of which leads to larger, external funding from agencies like the National Science Foundation.
Assisted Migration and the Future of Great Basin pikas (Ochotona princeps)
Abstract: Since the end of the Pleistocene, warming climates have seen acceptable habitat for pikas (Ochotona princeps) move upslope by approximately 785 m in the Great Basin. As a result, the future of these iconic mammals in arid western North America is a matter of great concern to conservation biologists. Given that an attempt to place pikas on the federally endangered list failed, it seems extremely likely that these animals will now be the focus of proposals for what has come to be known as “Assisted Migration”—the purposeful movement of animals across space to establish new, and hopefully successful, populations of those animals. The work to be conducted under this grant brings together three individuals to address issues related to pika assisted migration. Those individuals are myself, with expertise in the history of small mammals in arid western North America, including pikas, and two of the world’s experts on these animals, Dr. Constance Millar (USFS Research Scientist) and Dr. Andrew Smith (Professor, Arizona State University). The work will: 1) include an examination of current occupied pika habitats in the western Great Basin, and, 2) begin the process of producing a position paper dealing with pika assisted migration for a major biological/conservation biological journal.
Report: read the article published on this project here.
Abstract: Since the end of the Pleistocene, warming climates have seen acceptable habitat for pikas (Ochotona princeps) move upslope by approximately 785 m in the Great Basin. As a result, the future of these iconic mammals in arid western North America is a matter of great concern to conservation biologists. Given that an attempt to place pikas on the federally endangered list failed, it seems extremely likely that these animals will now be the focus of proposals for what has come to be known as “Assisted Migration”—the purposeful movement of animals across space to establish new, and hopefully successful, populations of those animals. The work to be conducted under this grant brings together three individuals to address issues related to pika assisted migration. Those individuals are myself, with expertise in the history of small mammals in arid western North America, including pikas, and two of the world’s experts on these animals, Dr. Constance Millar (USFS Research Scientist) and Dr. Andrew Smith (Professor, Arizona State University). The work will: 1) include an examination of current occupied pika habitats in the western Great Basin, and, 2) begin the process of producing a position paper dealing with pika assisted migration for a major biological/conservation biological journal.