Life on the edge—a changing genetic landscape within an iconic American pika metapopulation over the last half century
Declines and extirpations of American pika (Ochotona princeps) populations at historically occupied sites started being documented in the literature during the early 2000s. Commensurate with global climate change, many of these losses at peripheral and lower elevation sites have been associated with...
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PeerJ Inc.
2023-09-01
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/15962.pdf |
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| author | Kelly B. Klingler Lyle B. Nichols Evon R. Hekkala Joseph A. E. Stewart Mary M. Peacock |
| author_facet | Kelly B. Klingler Lyle B. Nichols Evon R. Hekkala Joseph A. E. Stewart Mary M. Peacock |
| author_sort | Kelly B. Klingler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Declines and extirpations of American pika (Ochotona princeps) populations at historically occupied sites started being documented in the literature during the early 2000s. Commensurate with global climate change, many of these losses at peripheral and lower elevation sites have been associated with changes in ambient air temperature and precipitation regimes. Here, we report on a decline in available genetic resources for an iconic American pika metapopulation, located at the southwestern edge of the species distribution in the Bodie Hills of eastern California, USA. Composed of highly fragmented habitat created by hard rock mining, the ore dumps at this site were likely colonized by pikas around the end of the 19th century from nearby natural talus outcrops. Genetic data extracted from both contemporary samples and archived natural history collections allowed us to track population and patch-level genetic diversity for Bodie pikas across three distinct sampling points during the last half- century (1948–1949, 1988–1991, 2013–2015). Reductions in within-population allelic diversity and expected heterozygosity were observed across the full time period. More extensive sampling of extant patches during the 1988–1991 and 2013–2015 periods revealed an increase in population structure and a reduction in effective population size. Furthermore, census records from the last 51 years as well as archived museum samples collected in 1947 from a nearby pika population in the Wassuk range (Nevada, USA) provide further support of the increasing isolation and genetic coalescence occurring in this region. This study highlights the importance of museum samples and long-term monitoring in contextualizing our understanding of population viability. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:51:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6e1cb345ade147d5959e298142777e3d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:51:41Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
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| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-6e1cb345ade147d5959e298142777e3d2023-12-03T01:33:23ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592023-09-0111e1596210.7717/peerj.15962Life on the edge—a changing genetic landscape within an iconic American pika metapopulation over the last half centuryKelly B. Klingler0Lyle B. Nichols1Evon R. Hekkala2Joseph A. E. Stewart3Mary M. Peacock4Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, United StatesDepartment of Life Sciences, Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, California, United StatesDepartment of Biological Sciences, Fordham University, Bronx, New York, United StatesDepartment of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United StatesDepartment of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, Nevada, United StatesDeclines and extirpations of American pika (Ochotona princeps) populations at historically occupied sites started being documented in the literature during the early 2000s. Commensurate with global climate change, many of these losses at peripheral and lower elevation sites have been associated with changes in ambient air temperature and precipitation regimes. Here, we report on a decline in available genetic resources for an iconic American pika metapopulation, located at the southwestern edge of the species distribution in the Bodie Hills of eastern California, USA. Composed of highly fragmented habitat created by hard rock mining, the ore dumps at this site were likely colonized by pikas around the end of the 19th century from nearby natural talus outcrops. Genetic data extracted from both contemporary samples and archived natural history collections allowed us to track population and patch-level genetic diversity for Bodie pikas across three distinct sampling points during the last half- century (1948–1949, 1988–1991, 2013–2015). Reductions in within-population allelic diversity and expected heterozygosity were observed across the full time period. More extensive sampling of extant patches during the 1988–1991 and 2013–2015 periods revealed an increase in population structure and a reduction in effective population size. Furthermore, census records from the last 51 years as well as archived museum samples collected in 1947 from a nearby pika population in the Wassuk range (Nevada, USA) provide further support of the increasing isolation and genetic coalescence occurring in this region. This study highlights the importance of museum samples and long-term monitoring in contextualizing our understanding of population viability.https://peerj.com/articles/15962.pdfAmerican pikaClimate changeGenetic monitoringEvolutionary potentialConservation science |
| spellingShingle | Kelly B. Klingler Lyle B. Nichols Evon R. Hekkala Joseph A. E. Stewart Mary M. Peacock Life on the edge—a changing genetic landscape within an iconic American pika metapopulation over the last half century PeerJ American pika Climate change Genetic monitoring Evolutionary potential Conservation science |
| title | Life on the edge—a changing genetic landscape within an iconic American pika metapopulation over the last half century |
| title_full | Life on the edge—a changing genetic landscape within an iconic American pika metapopulation over the last half century |
| title_fullStr | Life on the edge—a changing genetic landscape within an iconic American pika metapopulation over the last half century |
| title_full_unstemmed | Life on the edge—a changing genetic landscape within an iconic American pika metapopulation over the last half century |
| title_short | Life on the edge—a changing genetic landscape within an iconic American pika metapopulation over the last half century |
| title_sort | life on the edge a changing genetic landscape within an iconic american pika metapopulation over the last half century |
| topic | American pika Climate change Genetic monitoring Evolutionary potential Conservation science |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/15962.pdf |
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