Millions of Lives Depend on the Tibetan 'Bunny'

Every living thing has its importance in nature, but there are some keystone species, like the Tibetan pika, that can influence the survival of millions.

A keystone species is an animal that has an incommensurate effect on the environment relative to its biomass.

After analyzing the biology and the environmental impacts of the diminutive Tibetan pika (Ochotona curzoniae), President’s Professor and renown conservationist Andrew Smith from the ASU School of Life Sciences, is convinced that if this animal disappears, millions of people will suffer.

The problem is that the Chinese government considers the pika as being an agricultural pest, so over the past 40 years it has encouraged its systematic poisoning during wintertime, most recently by using grain laced with botulin c strain toxin (Clostridium botulinum).

During the last three years, the poisoning area has extended to 320,000 km² – 75% of the size of California, and since what happens on the Tibetan plateau influences 40% of the world's population, it is very important to maintain the natural balance of this environment.

After all the research, Smith said that “it became very clear to me early on that in areas where they had poisoned the pikas that most of the native species of mammals and even ecosystem functions in the Tibetan plateau had disappeared or been greatly diminished.”

During recent years, Smith and his graduate students have been documenting different aspects of the pika's biology and its role as an ecosystem engineer, and “given these observations, I framed the plateau pika as a keystone species,” the researcher explained.

The researchers say that since on the plateau there are very few trees, the pika burrows are nesting grounds for many species of birds, so eliminating the pikas will seriously affect them.

But since these arguments have not affected Chinese policies, Smith along with his graduate assistant Max Wilson, are trying to make the government understand the importance of this small animal, by explaining that its survival has become an economic issue.

Last year, Smith and Wilson received funding and support from the Phoenix Zoo, so they carried out hydrology research in the area, measuring infiltration rates and contrasting areas where pikas live versus those where they have been eliminated.

'The Roof of the World' is the source of the Mekong, Huang He, Salween, Yangtze, Tsangpo and Ganges rivers.

And as strange as it might seem, poisoning the small pikas can seriously affect Asia's biggest rivers, because, apart from being seasonal nests, pika burrows serve as a network of underground channels letting the soil breathe and absorb water like a sponge.

The researchers' data showed that killing the pikas will increase the odds of erosion, will flood the rivers downstream and will have a considerable negative economic impact.

The two scientists have finished their first year of research (part of the two-year study in Tibet), and after working on the drainages of the Mekong, Yangtze and Huang He rivers last summer, their goal is to gather enough data to prove the important link between pikas and the water resources in Tibet.

Smith has already received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to carry out further ecological studies in the region, along with five other researchers.

The Tibetan plateau represents 25 percent of the area of China, so this year, the researchers should be very busy covering such a wide surface.