Climate change significantly impacts biodiversity, with northern and alpine ecosystems considered particularly susceptible. British Columbia (BC) hosts Canada’s greatest diversity of wildlife which provides a wealth of environmental, cultural, social and economic benefits to the province. Yet, this biodiversity is under threat due to climate change, human activities and competing land use priorities. The BC Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship has an urgent need for innovative tools and resources to monitor and reduce climate impacts on wildlife, especially species that act as indicators of ecosystem health, such as the American (Ochotona princeps) and Collared (O. collaris) pikas. These small, rabbit-like mammals are considered sentinel species for detecting climate-driven changes in alpine environments.

There is great potential to use genomic tools to monitor American and Collared pikas and protect them from the effects of climate change. Researchers will combine field-based occupancy surveys with advanced habitat suitability modeling to map where these species currently live and predict how their habitats may shift under future climate conditions. By combining whole genome sequencing with topographical and climate data, the team will create rapid, cost-effective genotyping tools that can be integrated with occupancy surveys, improving estimates of habitat connectivity and species vulnerability.

Community involvement is a key part of the project. To engage the public, the team will:

• Host community presentations on climate impacts in alpine ecosystems
• Create infographics showing how genomics tools contribute to conservation
• Expand the functionality of the Pika Patrol mobile app (https://pikapartners.org/pikapatrol/) to enable citizen science and data collection

The project will create tools and generate knowledge needed to monitor and protect pika populations across BC. Pika location data will be added to the databases used for environmental assessments, including those that regulate mining activities, to account for pika habitats. Results will be shared with provincial, federal and Indigenous management bodies to inform wildlife habitat stewardship. Beyond pikas, this work will establish a workflow that can be applied to other sentinel species at the edges of their ranges in BC, supporting a broader provincial strategy for monitoring and mitigating climate change impacts on biodiversity.