NAPC hosts several working groups, each focused on a specific conceptual area of pika biology. Working groups meet once per year outside of conferences, and then host strategic planning meetings during annual conferences to provide forums for discussion, methodological advances, research synergies, protocol development, and more. If you'd like to join a working group to share your expertise and interests, please reach out to the chair(s) listed below.

Climate

The climate working group is focused on understanding how climate variability and change are affecting pika populations and how to best collect and analyze climate data. This includes microclimate data collected with temperature sensors, as well as gridded and remotely-sensed data.

• Contact: Dr. Erik Beever (ebeever10@gmail.com), Airy Peralta (airy.gonzalezperalta@colorado.edu), Rachel Billings (rachel.billings@colorado.edu)

• Most recent Notes/Report

Distribution & Habitat

This group is working to understand key habitat components for pikas across spatial scales. The group would like to better quantify how pikas use the landscape and how to improve modeling efforts.  Goals include refining distribution maps for pikas, summarizing habitat types where pikas have been found, contributing protocols for delineating patches, and providing recommendations for how best to measure pika habitat.

• Contact: Mackenzie Jeffress (mrjeffress@ndow.org), Peter Billman (peterbillman@ymail.com)

• Most Recent Notes/Report

Education & Public Engagement

This group connects existing pika participatory science initiatives and supports the development of new outreach programs. It is also exploring options for standardizing data collection between volunteer projects, creating a shared central repository for volunteer-generated data, and developing protocols for evaluating the effects of participation on volunteers. Furthermore, the group is working to support researchers in integrating education, public engagement, and outreach activities as integral parts of future funding proposals. 

• Contact: Johanna Varner (jvarner@coloradomesa.edu)

• Most recent Notes/Report

• Google Group Listserv: https://groups.google.com/g/NAPC-education 

Field Methods

The field methods group is working on compiling and standardizing protocols, many of which overlap with other working groups. These protocols include occupancy surveys, trapping/handling, data logger deployment, behavioral observations and more.  

• Contact: Peter Billman  (peterbillman@ymail.com) & Dr. Chris Ray (cray@colorado.edu)

• Most recent Notes/Report

Health & Physiology

This working group is interested in understanding the effects of physiological stress, disease ecology, and population health on persistence of pikas in the Intermountain West. In particular, this group hopes to inform conservation efforts through greater documentation of how physiology, diet, and disease relates to pika survival, and through easily implemented field metrics of population health that can be routinely sampled over the long-term. In addition, this group recognizes the need for standardization of physiological and disease field collection as well as protocols for trapping and necropsies. 

• Contact: Dr. Nifer Wilkening (jennifer_wilkening@fws.gov), Ashley Whipple (awhipple@usgs.gov)

• Most recent Notes/Report

Population Genetics & Population Genomics

This working group focuses on topics related to the genetics/genomics of the two North American pika spp. (American and Collared) including phylogeography, conservation/population genetics, and sampling methodologies/protocol standardization at both fine-scale and range-wide levels. Group goals for these two species include the generation of genomic resources/data, a comprehensive review of the genetic literature, standardization of collection protocols, and creation of genetic kits for agencies and citizen science efforts. We are also interested in weighing in on transplant projects if/when proposed, and addressing how genetics information can help pika conservation.

• Contact: Dr. Mike Russello (michael.russello@ubc.ca)

• Most recent Notes/Report