Episode #64
60: A Love for Pikas, Harrowing Mountain Journeys & Women in STEM with Dr. Johanna "Pika Jo" Varner & Karli Weatherill
You NEED To know about the most adorable little "mountain potatoes": the American pika (Ochotona princeps)! Not only is the logo for this here podcast a pika, but the American pika ( Ochotona princeps ) is a small, herbivorous mammal of the family Ochotonidae, closely related to rabbits and hares. They live in alpine rockslides and talus slopes; and they have the cutest "MEEP!" you'll ever hear. Pikas are widely considered a mammalian indicator of environmental change in alpine ecosystems because they have experienced climate-mediated declines in parts of their range. My two guests for this episode are an incredible scientifically-savvy duo: Dr. Johanna "Pika Jo" Varner and Karli Weatherill - who study pikas for a living! Johanna “Pika Jo” Varner is a pika biologist who lives in Colorado. During the academic year, she teaches biology at Colorado Mesa University, but during the summer, she spends a lot of time in the mountains looking for pikas, placing temperature sensors, and collecting scat samples to analyze for stress. Before she was a pika biologist, Dr. Varner was a biomedical engineer, a baker, and a blueberry farmer. But she likes studying pikas best because they are adorable and they live in beautiful places. Karli Weatherill is a Ph.D. student at the University of Oklahoma and a graduate of Colorado Mesa University, where she first met Pika Jo and earned her bachelor's degree in Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology. Her research has focused on the stress physiology of American pikas. Karli is an avid outdoor enthusiast and loves that she gets to study pikas while spending time in the mountains. She is also passionate about science communication and youth science education, striving to make science accessible and inspiring to diverse audiences. Read about the pika study implemented by Karli and Jo: Climatic stressors and habitat quality explain individual stress metrics in an isolated population of small mammals . Download the Pika Patrol app! Check out Pika Jo's website: Dr. Johanna Varner . Follow Pika Jo on Instagram: @doctorpikajo . Follow Karli on Instagram: @mtntopbiologist . Follow ROTLP on Instagram: @rangersofthelostpark . Follow ROTLP on TikTok: @rangersofthelostpark . Join Patreon! Become a Ranger Friend for bonus content and to join an incredible community. Now available on YouTube ! Watch Rangers of the Lost Park select episodes. Got a cool Ranger Tea story? Want Liz to share your interesting outdoors story on the podcast? Fill out the Listener Story Form! Have a question for Liz? Want her to answer it on an episode? Fill out the Listener Question Form! Do you know someone who would make a great guest on the podcast (yourself included)? Fill out the Podcast Guest Request Form! For episode suggestions and feedback, please email Liz at info@rangersofthelostpark.com . Please download, subscribe, and leave a review! Thank you for listening! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
