Plants and the American Pika (Ochotona princeps):Comparing vegetation communities, pika harvesting and plant nutrition

in contrasting habitatsMarisa Leung, Bachelor of Natural Resource Sciences Honours Program, Thompson Rivers University; leung.marisakp@gmail.com;

Karl Larsen, Professor, Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC; klarsen@tru.ca

OBJECTIVES1. Compare plant communities between

anthropogenic and native denning

sites of pikas

2. Determine and compare the plant

species being ‘hayed’ on each site

3. Assess whether pikas are choosing the

most abundant and/or most nutritious

plants available, and how this differs

between habitat types.

STUDY LOCATIONHighland Valley Copper Mine (HVCM)

is located within the Thompson-Nicola

region of British Columbia3:

The mine site is located 75 kilometers

southwest of Kamloops Highland Valley

Copper is an open-pit mining operation

covering approximately 34,000 hectares of

land3, making it one of the larger copper

mining operations in the world.

The larger concurrent study of Blair (in

progress)1 provided detailed information

on the location of occupied pika denning

sites in both anthropogenic (reclamated)

and native habitat types. All 7 sites

considered ‘anthropogenic’ had been

altered physically in terms of plant

community composition , lying within the

Highland Valley mine operation area. The

8 native sites were essentially untouched

and unaltered from their original, natural

state prior to mine construction (Figure 1).

METHODOLOGY

Field Methods

• 20m-radius plots were established August 1st to 5th, 2013 and

the presence and percent cover of all plant species was

recorded over the entire plot

• Sample of each plant species were collected and placed into

individually-labeled paper bags

• Hay piles at each pika den site were investigated on October

10th, 2013, and plant species composition recorded along with

estimates of % volume for each plant.

Nutritional Analysis

• Dried plants were ground using a sterilized commercial coffee

grinder and stored in a Ziploc bag

• Samples were weighed and analyzed using an an automated

elemental analyzer (CE440, Exeter Analytical Inc.)

• The analysis provided measurements (in percent) of nitrogen

(a component of all amino acids) ; crude protein was

determined by multiplying nitrogen outputs by 6.255

Statistical Analysis

• I used Minitab (vers.16) statistical software to determine

normality and perform t-tests for comparison

• The Jaccard index coefficient6 was used to compare plant

community data and haypile composition data

DISCUSSIONPlant Community Comparison: The relatively lower plant diversity in the anthropogenic

community was not surprising. Reclamated habitat generally does not match the original native

habitat in terms of plant species diversity, partially because reclamation efforts typically do not target

the re-establishment of a plant community identical or even similar to that existing prior to the

disturbance2

Haypile Comparison: The dissimilarity between the most abundant species within the plant

community and the most abundant species in the haypiles suggest that the pikas are not a generalist

foraging species. These data would thereby support the a long-held notion that pikas are selective in

terms of the vegetation they hay4

Nutrition Analysis: Results indicate that pikas are not haying species that have the highest

nutritional values. Rather, the pikas in both habitats are haying vegetation that has approximately

average nutrient composition. This in turn suggests that pikas at this site are obtaining the same or

similar nutrients regardless of which location they inhabit. The nutrient composition is not correlated

with the most abundant species within the plant community. Pikas from both habitats are haying

plants that are neither high in abundance nor high in nutritional value. This could be attributed to the

fact that the plants with the highest nutrition values are not as common within the plant community

and therefore may be more difficult to obtain highly nutritional plants when foraging.

Overall, pikas are exhibiting plasticity in terms of utilizing different plant species. To maintain their

dietary requirements, pikas are adapting to the new stresses that anthropogenic activities have created.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThank you to my supervising professor, Karl Larsen for the continuous support

throughout the duration of my project; to my supervising committee, Wendy

Gardner and John Karakatsoulis, for the much appreciated field assistance and

methodology guidance; to Cheryl Blair for getting me involved with her Master’s

study and helping me along the way both in the field and during the writing

process; to Lauchland Fraser for the use of the research lab and statistical guidance;

to Heather Richardson and Dan Denesiuk for helping me conduct my nutritional

analysis; to Highland Valley Copper Mine for allowing me to collect data within

their operating area; to Amber Merko for all the field work help during my August

data collection period; to all my friends that helped edit my thesis and poster; and

lastly, most of all to my family for encouraging me, motivating me and giving me

strength throughout this process.

LITERATURE CITED: 1. Blair C. in progress. MSc thesis, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada 2. Hingtgen TM, Clark WR. 1984.

Impact of small mammals on the vegetation of reclaimed land in the northern great plains. Journal of Range Management, 37(5): 438-441. 3. Mine Sites. Major Mining

Operations Around the World - Highland Valley Copper Mine. [Internet]. Vancouver, BC: Info Mine – Mining Intelligence and Technology [cited 2013 October 5].

Available from http://www.infomine.com/minesite/minesite.asp?site=hvc. 4. Varner J, Dearing MD. 2014. Dietary plasticity in pikas as a strategy for atypical resource

landscapes. Journal of Mammalogy, 95(1): 72-81. 5. Kyriazakis I, Oldham JD. 1993. Diet selection in sheep: the ability of growing lambs to select a diet that meets their

crude pretein (nitrogen x 6.25) requirements. British Journal of Nutrition, 69(3): 617-629 6. Stiling P. 1999. Ecology: Theories and Applications, Third Edition. Upper

Saddle River (NJ), Prentice Hall, 614p

Figure 1: Topographic map of Highland Valley Copper Mine, Logan Lake, BC

and my sample plot locations in relation to the operational area.

Map courtesy of Kirby Papineau, Forsite Consultants Ltd.

RESULTSPlant Community Comparison: Of the 89 plant species identified within the vegetation plots

surrounding the den sites, 75 grew only on native sites, 54 only on anthropogenic sites and 40

occurred on both (Figure 4). The native plant communities were significantly more diverse

(J = 0.45, t = 2.42, df = 10, P-value = 0.04).

Haypile Comparison: I compared the most abundant plant species in native plant community (= top

14 of 75) to the most abundant species within the corresponding haypiles, which revealed a difference

in composition (J=0.41). The same comparison in the anthropogenic habitat showed even less

similarity (J=0.27). All told, these data indicate that the pikas were not haying the most abundant

species within the plant communities.

Nutrition Analysis of Plant Samples: The average % nitrogen and crude protein of the plants

sampled within the community was very similar across the two contrasting habitats (respectively,

2.0% and 12.6% for the native habitat, and 1.8% and 11.5% for the anthropogenic habitat).

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Figure 4: Average percent cover used to rank plant species abundance across denning sites

of the American pika (Ochotona princeps) in native (top) and anthropogenic (bottom) habitat

at Highland Valley Copper Mine, British Columbia. The species list on the abscissa consists

of the entire assemblage of species identified on both the native and anthropogenic sites.

Lack of a bar indicates that the species was not found within that site. Error bars indicate +/- 1

std.dev.

INTRODUCTION

Understanding how wildlife populations cope with changes to plant communities in their

native habitat is increasingly important, especially as resource extraction (e.g. mining)

becomes a dominant influence on landscapes. More specifically, identifying how wildlife

(particularly herbivores) are able to use anthropogenic plant communities will allow us to

better manage the quality and quantity of habitat in these anthropogenically-altered

ecosystems.

Reclamation initiatives at Highland Valley Copper Mine focus on converting waste-rock

and dump site locations into land that supports plant communities composed of agronomic

and some native species. The presence of American Pikas (Ochotona princeps) in this and

surrounding, natural landscapes creates an opportunity to investigate how the plant species

they select for harvesting varies across native and anthropogenic habitats, and whether the

animals occupying habitats with non-native vegetation may be forced to select less-

nutritious plants. Pikas ‘hay’ plants in the fall, drying them in the sun before moving them

subsurface in preparation for winter. This

provides an opportunity to assess the plants

destined for their winter caches.

Figure 3: (a) haypile on a native denning site; (b) natural talus slope; (c) haypile on an anthropogenic

denning site; (d) HVC roadside talus slope. All photographs taken by Author.

a b

c d

Figure 2: Adult pika (collared and ear tagged by C. Blair1) with a piece

of kinnikinnick in its mouth. Photograph taken by Author.