As Earth’s climate warms and suitable wildlife habitat shifts upwards, species that depend on high-elevation habitats are expected to experience population declines as their habitats change and shrink. The hoary marmot, a montane rodent that relies on snowpack for hibernation, is especially sensitive to climate change. Although changing habitat is expected to negatively affect marmot survival, marmot declines may also be driven by changing predator communities, as lower-elevation predators that are normally restricted by snowpack gain better access to marmots as snowpack declines.

Through collaboration with the Cascades Carnivore Project and the National Park Service, this research seeks to better understand the ecology of the North Cascades subalpine zone by focusing on predator-prey interactions surrounding this declining population of hoary marmots. This project will investigate three main research questions: 1) Is marmot behavior influenced by carnivore and/or hiker presence? 2) Are certain carnivores, especially low-elevation species, including a disproportionate amount of marmots in their diet? 3) Is the presence of certain carnivores influenced by environmental factors, particularly site-specific snowpack trends? While answering these questions, this project will also contribute data on relative marmot abundance, carnivore diet and subalpine carnivore presence to National Park Service datasets. Additionally, this project will partner with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources to monitor carnivore response to snow cover from mid-winter to late-spring across a range of sites.

This project will inform management strategies for the declining hoary marmot population in the North Cascades National Park Complex, and will also provide information about the distribution, diet and activity patterns of many elusive and climate-sensitive species that prey upon marmots.