Species: Microtus pennsylvanicus
Meadow Vole
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Mammalia
Order
Rodentia
Family
Cricetidae
Genus
Microtus
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
campagnol des champs
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Mammals - Rodents
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Mammalia - Rodentia - Cricetidae - Microtus - , but chromosome differences support their recognition as distinct species (see Musser and Carleton).
Ecology and Life History
Migration
true - false - false
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Diet consists mainly of vegetable matter, such as grasses, roots and seeds.
Reproduction Comments
Breeds throughout year, if snow provides an insulating layer. Peak breeding activity occurs April-October. Gestation lasts about 21 days. Litter size is 1-9 (average 4-5); litter size is smaller in fall than in spring/summer; 5-10 litters per year.
Ecology Comments
Home range seldom exceeds 0.25 acres (Banfield 1974). Successful homing of 11 of 848 voles displaced 1.2 km indicates that dispersal distance likely is more than 1 km (Ostfeld and Manson 1996, J. Mamm. 77:870-873). <br><br>Cyclic density fluctuations may occur every 2-5 years (Krebs and Myers 1974). High densities of 50-60 per acre not unusual; average densities probably closer to 8-10 per acre (Baker 1983). <br><br>Can affect old-field succession through seedling predation (Ostfeld and Canham 1993).
Length
20
Weight
70
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-11-13
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-13
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
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Global Range
H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - Occurs throughout most of Canada and Alaska south through the northern half of the U.S., to Oregon, northern Utah, central New Mexico, Kansas, northern Missouri, Georgia, and South Carolina; also disjunctly (by 500 km) in Florida and in Chihuahua, Mexico (Hall 1981). Range has expanded southward in the Great Plains since the mid-1960s as the climate has become cooler and more mesic (Frey 1992).
Global Range Code
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)