A Pika / PIxabay.

Ashley Whipple is on hands and knees, peering into crevices in a rock cairn at the top of Rocky Mountains National Park. Looking for bright white stains on the stone - which indicate the presence of pika animals and their urine - she climbs up and down, looking. What is she searching for? 

Scat.

Pika look like a cross between a rabbit and a mouse, small mammals that live in alpine habitats, dependent on the cooler temperatures to combat high metabolisms. Unfortunately, decreased snowmelt and warmer summer temperatures have put this adorable creature at risk. Modeling has predicted this creature will disappear from the national park by the end of the century, but as part of her graduate work, Whipple is searching for micro-climates in which pika may survive.

When she finds the pika poo in one of her four Rocky Mountains National Park sites, Ashley takes a sample in a tiny manilla envelope, jotting down GPS coordinates. Back at the lab, she tests the droppings for different hormone levels - a non-invasive method for analyzing pika stress levels. As she creates a map of the pika samples, Whipple and the team can determine if stress is a good proxy for habitat quality; areas where pika are less stressed. They theorize that these habitats hold underground ice reserves, responsible for lower general temperatures. 

In addition to her sites in the national park, Whipple studies other pika grounds in nearby mountain ridges. By identifying better habitat, land managers and National Park Staff can try to work to give the pika more protection and increased survival odds in our changing world.