Members of the Cheviron lab just got back from a very successful trip to Mt Evans, Colorado, to sample deer mice physiology at 14,200 feet above sea level! We caught plenty of mice, and saw pika, mountain goats, big horn sheep, and marmots everywhere. We even saw a coyote along the road at around 12,000 feet elevation! Once we analyze the data we collected, we will have a better idea of how specific DNA mutations, which we hypothesize are under selection, may affect how mice use oxygen at high altitude. This work is a collaborative effort with Graham Scott and Grant McClelland who are both faculty at McMaster University in Canada.

At the summit (L to R): Trey, Jon, Zac, and myself

Our high-altitude laboratory

One of the many marmots we saw sunning itself on the rock.

A juvenile deer mouse.