Strategy of Food Plant Selection in the Siberian Northern Pika, Ochotona hyperborea

Distribution of American pikas in a low-elevation lava landscape: conservation implications from the range periphery

“…Johnson (1967) analyzed pika diets in Colorado and found that forbs and shrubs, rather than graminoids, comprised most of the food ingested throughout the year. Other studies have reported that pikas tend to graze or eat grasses directly while selecting forbs, possibly on the basis of their nutritional value, for haying (Dearing 1997;Gliwicz et al 2006;Huntly et al 1986). Our results were similar to those observed in Lava Beds National Monument (C. Ray, pers.…”

“…Structurally complex lava also might reduce weasel predation, which has been suggested as a potentially important factor in pika population dynamics elsewhere (Clinchy et al 2002;Smith and Gilpin 1997). Third, we included models with forb and graminoid cover parameters because pikas are selective in the kinds of plants consumed during grazing and haying activities (Gliwicz et al 2006;Huntly et al 1986;Johnson 1967), and because forb and graminoid cover were shown to be predictive of pika site occupancy in another lava-dominated habitat (C. Ray, pers. obs.).…”

Effects of winter food availability on the abundance of Daurian pikas (Ochotona dauurica) in Inner Mongolian grasslands

“…Pikas exhibit selective foraging behavior, choosing certain food plants in higher proportions compared to the proportions of these plants in vegetation (Gliwicz et al, 2006;Huntly et al, 1986). North American pikas feed mainly on grasses but hay predominantly forbs (450% of biomass of haypiles; Huntly et al, 1986).…”

Patterns of Selective Caching Behavior of a Generalist Herbivore, the American Pika (Ochotona princeps)

“…Graminoid species were lumped into a single category (Dearing, 1996), and all other taxa were identified to species using Weber's Rocky Mountain Flora (1976). It is standard practice for alpine graminoids to be lumped in haypile analyses because it is assumed that they have similar nutritional content from the perspective of the pika (Dearing, 1996;Gliwicz et al, 2006). All detected fresh haypiles were surveyed, and all vegetation was returned to its original haypile following dissection.…”