For wildlife, climate change brings a mixed bag

When Erik Beever began studying pikas 25 years ago, to gain insights on how mountain ecosystems are changing, he might have expected the evidence that emerged in many alpine habitats: As climates grew steadily warmer and drier, numbers shrank and some areas lost their pika populations entirely.

What was more surprising was what he saw in the Columbia River Gorge, a wet, lush region in northwest Oregon. Pikas there are developing different traits from those in the rest of their range. They’re moving off their traditional talus fields, changing their diets, expanding their range down almost to