How Will Climate Change Affect Pikas’ Favorite Snacks?

Abstract

Many animals are herbivores, which means they get all their nutrients from eating plants. American pikas are cute rabbit relatives that eat plants in the mountains. But alpine winters are harsh, so pikas spend their entire summer gathering and storing plants to eat under the winter snow. Just like people, pikas in Colorado have a favorite food: a plant called alpine avens. This plant species is a special pika snack because it contains natural preservatives called phenolics, which keep the food fresh all winter. We studied how climate change is affecting this important feature of the pika’s favorite meal. Alpine avens contains more phenolics now than it did 30 years ago, so they preserve better in storage. But there is a catch: these preservatives can be hard to digest. Studies like this help us start to understand the many complicated ways that climate change affects herbivores like pikas.