Pika (Ochotona princeps) Conservation Status Review

Review Date = 05/03/2018

View State Conservation Rank Criteria Review Date = 05/03/2018

Range Extent

ScoreF - 20,000-200,000 km squared (about 8,000-80,000 square miles)

Comment135,360 square Kilometers from Natural Heritage Program range maps

Long-term Trend

ScoreE - Relatively Stable (±25% change)

CommentTalus slopes with suitable thermal properties have been stable (within +/-25%) since European arrival.

Short-term Trend

ScoreU - Unknown. Short-term trend in population, range, area occupied, and number and condition of occurrences unknown.

CommentNo data on trends available.

Threats

ScoreH - Unthreatened. Threats if any, when considered in comparison with natural fluctuation and change, are minimal or very localized, not leading to significant loss or degradation of populations or area even over a few decades’ time. (Severity, scope, and/or immediacy of threat considered Insignificant.)

CommentAlthough a warming climate has been implicated in extirpation of this species within the southern Great Basin, current climate change is unlikely to have significant population level impacts within Montana in the next 20 years.

Intrinsic Vulnerability

ScoreB - Moderately Vulnerable. Species exhibits moderate age of maturity, frequency of reproduction, and/or fecundity such that populations generally tend to recover from decreases in abundance over a period of several years (on the order of 5-20 years or 2-5 generations); or species has moderate dispersal capability such that extirpated populations generally become reestablished through natural recolonization (unaided by humans).

CommentModerately Vulnerable. Species has moderately high fecundity but low juvenile survival. Dispersal between montane environments may be very difficult and reestablishment of populations in isolated mountain ranges may not occur.

Environmental Specificity

ScoreB - Narrow. Specialist. Specific habitat(s) or other abiotic and/or biotic factors (see above) are used or required by the Element, but these key requirements are common and within the generalized range of the species within the area of interest.

CommentSpecies is dependent on talus slopes adjacent to meadows, riparian habitats, or other foraging areas. Requires thermal refugia from warm temperatures, often restricting Pika to higher elevation sites.

Raw Conservation Status Score

Score 3.5 + 0 (geographic distribution) + 0 (environmental specificity) + 0 (long-term trend) + 1 (threats) = 4.5

