Local hikers with an interest in climate change will have the chance to participate in a research project studying a furry subject: the American pika.

The research project aims to recruit high-altitude hikers to collect data about pikas, a rabbit relative that resembles a hamster, and their habitat. The data will give scientists crucial information about pika populations and global warming, said Whitney Gaskill, local trainer with the project called PikaNET.

The Mountain Studies Institute will provide training to anyone interested in participating in a free clinic Wednesday at the Durango Discovery Museum. Once trained, volunteers will be asked to track how many pikas they see when they are in the mountains and record data about animal sightings and key habitat descriptions on the PikaNET webpage.

Variations in pika populations are a good indicator of climate change because of the animals’ unique susceptibility to warming temperatures in alpine areas, Gaskill said. The animals can only live in a very specific habitat (rock fields usually above treeline) because of an inability to regulate their body temperature.

“It makes the species very susceptible to extinction when they are so specialized to certain habitat,” Gaskill said.

As temperatures continue to rise because of global climate change, the animals are forced to seek higher and higher ground, she said.

Data collected by citizen scientists will be collected in a public database available to all types of scientists and land managers looking into the subject, Gaskill said.

With the help of the public, the database will provide a more thorough and extensive look at pika populations in Colorado than researchers could produce by themselves, she said.

The data also will provide a much clearer idea of the current condition of pika populations for future policy decisions about the designation of the pika as an endangered species, she said.

For locals, it is an opportunity to see the effects of climate change for themselves, Gaskill said.

“There is a lot of scary stuff in media, and this is an opportunity for people to get out and observe with their own eyes and ears whether or not those impacts are taking form in the San Juans,” she said.

ecowan@durango herald.com