Woodland vole

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Woodland vole
Woodland Vole Microtus Pinetorum.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cricetidae
Subfamily: Arvicolinae
Genus: Microtus
Subgenus: Pitymys
Species:
M. pinetorum
Binomial name
Microtus pinetorum
(Le Conte, 1830)
Microtus pinetorum map.svg

The woodland vole (Microtus pinetorum) is a small vole found in eastern North America. It is also known as the pine vole.

Contents

Characteristics

The woodland vole has a head and body length ranging between 3.25–4.75 in (83–121 mm) with a 0.5–1.5 in (13–38 mm) short tail. Its weight ranges between 0.5–1.3 oz (14–37 g). It has a brown (light or dark) dorsal region with a whitish or silvery underside. The eyes, external ears and tail are reduced to adapt to their partially subterranean lifestyle.[ citation needed ]

Ecology

The woodland vole lives throughout the eastern United States, ranging as far as Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. [2] They inhabit deciduous forests, dry fields, and apple orchards. Voles prefer wooded areas with high vertical vegetative stratification but also evergreen shrubs, ground cover, and old fallen logs. [3] Deciduous forests with moist, friable soils are suitable for burrowing and voles are most abundant in these habitats. However, they can also be found in other habitats from dry fields to the edges of coastal bays. [4] In addition, apple orchards are a favorite habitat. The root systems of trees are an important food source for vole and thus tree spacing affects the density of vole populations. [4]

Voles prefer to live in soils ranging from loam/peat moss mixtures, to gravel or stone soils, but not very dry soils. [4] Alfisol and Ultisol soil types are particularly favored due to being favorable to the vole's burrowing system. [2] Voles feed on both the roots and stem system and the vegetation of plants, as well as fruits, seeds, bark, subterranean fungus and insects. [4] Because they feed on roots and tubers, voles do not need to drink water much. [3] Voles cache food, primarily during the winter. [5] Voles spend most of their time underground in their burrow systems and seldom venture into the surface. This makes them safe from hawks and owls. [4] Other predators of voles include snakes, weasels and mountain lions. They are also susceptible to ectoparasites like lice, fleas, mites, and chiggers. [4]

Social behavior and reproduction

Woodland voles live in family groups in burrow systems in home ranges around 14.75-17.75 in (40–45 cm). [4] The burrows are exclusive to the family groups, however a group usually does not need to defend its burrows as other voles usually will not invade them. [6] The size and location of the home range and dispersal of groups are limited by neighboring family groups. [6] Family groups of the vole are made of a breeding female, a breeding male, their 1–4 offspring and sometimes a few other members that serve as helpers. [4] [6] [7] Helpers are immigrants from other groups. Group emigration is uncommon and dependent on whether there are available positions in other groups. [6] Staying in a group as a non-breeding individual is beneficial as burrow systems are major investments and a limited resource. [6]

In the north, the breeding season lasts from March to sometime between November and January. In the south, the breeding season continues throughout the year. [4] In order to enter estrus, a female must sense chemosignals in a male and have physical contact. [8] Because females are dispersed with little overlap of different colonies, polygamy is rare among voles. In addition, the breeding female in a family group will stress the reproduction of female helpers. [9] Females are fiercely loyal to their partners and are highly aggressive towards unfamiliar males. [7] A young female vole usually first conceives around 105 days but can conceive as early as 77 days. A female will develop a vaginal plug after copulation which lasts for three days. [4] Gestation lasts 20–24 days with 1–4 litters produced per year, each with 1–5 young. [4] When a vole's partner dies, it is replaced by an unrelated individual. This results in a conflict between the surviving parent and its offspring of the same sexes for mating opportunities. [9] A new male in a group gives a non-breeding female a chance to breed although the resident breeding female is still an obstacle. [9]

Interactions with humans

Woodland voles create high economic loss through the damage they cause to apple orchards. [7] Vole feeding costs apple growers annual losses of nearly $50 million. [6] As such farmers see them as pests. Urban environments have little impact on vole habitat selection. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vole</span> Type of small omnivorous rodent

Voles are small rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller eyes and ears; and differently formed molars. They are sometimes known as meadow mice or field mice in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern meadow vole</span> Species of mammal

The eastern meadow vole, sometimes called the field mouse or meadow mouse, is a North American vole found in eastern Canada and the United States. Its range extends farther south along the Atlantic coast.

<i>Microtus</i> Genus of rodents

Microtus is a genus of voles found in North America, Europe and northern Asia. The genus name refers to the small ears of these animals. They are stout rodents with short ears, legs and tails. They eat green vegetation such as grasses and sedges in summer, and grains, seeds, root and bark at other times. The genus is also called "meadow voles".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North American water vole</span> Species of rodent

The North American water vole or just water vole is the largest North American vole. It is found in the northwestern United States and southern parts of western Canada. This animal has been historically considered a member of genus Arvicola, but molecular evidence demonstrates that it is more closely related to North American Microtus species. Water voles are on the USDA Forest Service Region 2 sensitive species list because they maintain very small populations and there is high concern that their required habitat may be declining.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long-tailed vole</span> Species of rodent

The long-tailed vole, in some areas known as the San Bernardino long-tailed vole, is a small vole found in western North America. They have short ears and a long tail. Their fur is gray brown with light gray underparts. They are around 18 cm (7.1 in) long with an 8 cm (3.1 in) tail and weigh about 50 g (1.8 oz).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prairie vole</span> Species of mammal

The prairie vole is a small vole found in central North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Short-tailed field vole</span> Species of rodent

The short-tailed field vole, short-tailed vole, or simply field vole is a grey-brown vole, around 10 cm in length, with a short tail. It is one of the most common mammals in Europe, with a range extending from the Atlantic coast to Lake Baikal. These voles are found in moist grassy habitats, such as woodland, marsh or on river banks. Although they make shallow burrows, they usually build nests above ground. They are an important food source for owls and some other predators and their population size tends to peak and trough cyclically. Field voles breed prolifically, mainly in summer, but often all year round, even under snow. Females produce up to seven litters a year, each averaging from four to six young which are weaned after about fourteen days. The short-tailed field vole is both widespread and common and is listed as being of "Least Concern" by the IUCN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank vole</span> Species of rodent

The bank vole is a small vole with red-brown fur and some grey patches, with a tail about half as long as its body. A rodent, it lives in woodland areas and is around 100 millimetres (3.9 in) in length. The bank vole is found in much of Europe and in northwestern Asia. It is native to Great Britain but not to Ireland, where it has been accidentally introduced, and has now colonised much of the south and southwest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common vole</span> Species of rodent

The common vole is a European rodent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gray-tailed vole</span> Species of rodent

The gray-tailed vole also known as the gray-tailed meadow vole or gray-tailed meadow mouse, is a rodent in the genus Microtus of the family Cricetidae. Voles are small mammals, and this species lies roughly in the middle of their size range. First collected in 1895, it is endemic to the Willamette Valley, Oregon, and Clark County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Historically, they were found in the prairie areas of the Valley and, though many of these areas have been converted for agricultural purposes, these animals remain common. For reasons that remain unclear, vole population densities in any area may fluctuate widely from season to season and year to year. They are preyed upon by owls, hawks, and carnivorous mammals, and their parasites include fleas and ticks. These voles build burrows and complex tunnel networks, which they sometimes share with other burrowing animals. Relatively little is known about their behavior in the wild, because they are elusive and unlikely to enter traps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reed vole</span> Species of rodent

The reed vole is a species of vole. It is found in northern and central Eurasia, including northern China and the Korean Peninsula. This species is somewhat larger and longer-tailed than most other voles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California vole</span> Species of rodent

The California vole is a type of vole which lives throughout much of California and part of southwestern Oregon. It is also known as the "California meadow mouse", a misnomer as this species is a vole, not a mouse. It averages 172 mm (6.8 in) in length although this length varies greatly between subspecies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beach vole</span> Subspecies of rodent

The beach vole or Muskeget vole is a rodent in the family Cricetidae. This close relative of the eastern meadow vole is endemic to the 0.87km² Muskeget Island, Massachusetts. Due to its relatively short period of reproductive isolation, there is debate over the beach vole’s designation as a subspecies of M. pennsylvanicus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabrera's vole</span> Species of rodent

Cabrera's vole is a species of vole native to Spain and Portugal. It is named for Ángel Cabrera, a mammalogist then working at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid. It is the only living member of the subgenus Iberomys, although two fossil species are also known, including M. brecciensis, the likely direct ancestor of the living species.

The Mediterranean pine vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in France, Andorra, Portugal, and Spain where it lives in a network of shallow tunnels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creeping vole</span> Species of rodent

The creeping vole, sometimes known as the Oregon meadow mouse, is a small rodent in the family Cricetidae. Ranging across the Pacific Northwest of North America, it is found in forests, grasslands, woodlands, and chaparral environments. The small-tailed, furry, brownish-gray mammal was first described in the scientific literature in 1839, from a specimen collected near the mouth of the Columbia River. The smallest vole in its range, it weighs around 19 g (0.67 oz). At birth, they weigh 1.6 g (0.056 oz), are naked, pink, unable to open their eyes, and the ear flaps completely cover the ear openings. Although not always common throughout their range, there are no major concerns for their survival as a species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Townsend's vole</span> Species of rodent

Townsend's vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae, the sister species of M. canicaudus. It is found in temperate grasslands of British Columbia in Canada and in the states of Washington and Oregon in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese zokor</span> Species of rodent

The Chinese zokor is a species of rodent in the family Spalacidae. It is endemic to China, ranging from Qinghai Province eastwards to Beijing in steppe and alpine grasslands. Henri Milne-Edwards first described it in 1867. Eradication programs in the 1990s in Qinghai Province resulted in a population decline to less than a third of the former population. It is considered common and has been assessed as Least Concern by IUCN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amargosa vole</span> Subspecies of rodent

The Amargosa vole is one of 17 subspecies of the California vole. The most closely related subspecies is M. californicus vallicola.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western meadow vole</span> Species of mammal

The western meadow vole is a species of North American vole found in midwestern and western Canada and the United States, and formerly in Mexico. It was formerly considered conspecific with the eastern meadow vole, but genetic studies indicate that it is a distinct species.

References

  1. Cassola, F. (2017) [errata version of 2016 assessment]. "Microtus pinetorum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T42633A115197344. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T42633A22346051.en . Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  2. 1 2 Haner, T. W.; Ferrar, R. W. & Schnell, G. D. (1999). "Range extensions of the woodland vole (Microtus pinetorum) and two other species in Northwestern Oklahoma". The Southwestern Naturalist. 44 (3): 407–409. JSTOR   30055245.
  3. 1 2 3 McPeek M. A.; Cook B. L.; McComb W. C. (1983). "Habitat selection by small mammals in an Urban Woodlot". Transactions of the Kentucky Academy of Science. 44: 68–73.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Whitaker, J. O., and Hamilton, W. J. (1998). Mammals of the Eastern United States , 3rd ed. Comstock Publishing Associates: Ithaca, NY.
  5. Geyer, L. A.; Kornet, C. A. & Rogers, J. G. (1984). "Factors affecting caching in the pine vole, Microtus pinetorum". Mammalia. 48 (2): 165–172. doi:10.1515/mamm.1984.48.2.165. S2CID   84442960.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lapasha, D. G. & Powell, R. A. (1994). "Pine vole (Microtus pinetorum) movement toward areas in apple orchards with reduced populations". Journal of Horticultural Science. 69 (6): 1077–1082. doi:10.1080/00221589.1994.11516547.
  7. 1 2 3 Geyer, L. A.; Beauchamp, G. K.; Seygal, G. & Rogers, J. G. (1981). "Social behavior of pine voles, Microtus pinetorum: Effects of gender, familiarity, and isolation". Behavioral and Neural Biology. 31 (3): 331–41. doi:10.1016/s0163-1047(81)91379-0. PMID   7013754.
  8. Solomon, N. G.; Vandenbergh, J. G.; Wekesa, K. S. & Barghusen, L. (1996). "Chemical cues are necessary but insufficient for reproductive activation of female pine voles (Microtus pinetorum)". Biology of Reproduction. 54 (5): 1038–45. doi: 10.1095/biolreprod54.5.1038 . PMID   8722624.
  9. 1 2 3 Brant, C. L.; Schwab, T. M.; Vandenbergh, J. G.; Schaefer, R. L. & Solomon, N. G. (1998). "Behavioral suppression of female pine voles after replacement of the breeding male". Animal Behaviour. 55 (3): 615–27. doi:10.1006/anbe.1997.0639. PMID   9515051. S2CID   46408133.