Dr. Castillo Vardaro and Kelcey Brown-Meacham, an undergrad in the lab, spent a successful week at Mt. Jefferson in central NV and the White Mountains in eastern CA. We revisited a historical site at Sawmill Canyon, first surveyed by P. T. Wilson of the UC Berkeley Museum of Vertebrate Zoology in 1933. We collected over 50 pika fecal pellets for genetic analysis! These samples will contribute to a range-wide population genetic study, as well as future comparisons of Great Basin and Sierra Nevada pika populations. The weather was perfect, the mountains were beautiful, and the pika were plentiful.
