Prairie Vole (Microtus ochrogaster)

County List:

Rule:

Nonforested Landscapes

      Savanna
      or Small Grains/Forage Crops
      or Fields/Pastures

Habitat List:

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Literature:

This grassland-loving species is a common resident of North American prairies. It lives in ungrazed pastures, fallow fields, weedy areas, and fencerows. One may find it along highway and railroad rights-of-way, and occasionally in cultivated fields of soybeans or alfalfa. In the Great Lakes region, the prairie vole and the meadow vole sometimes occur in the same area; when this happens, the prairie vole occupies drier sites with shorter and more varied vegetation than those that harbor the meadow vole.

This species is almost totally herbivorous. Even though grasses top the menu, the prairie vole also eats dicotyledonous plants such as alfalfa, dandelion, fleabane, plantain, and clover. It adds a few fruits in summer and autumn, and moss, roots, and bark are eaten in winter and early spring. Seeds contribute to the diet throughout the year.

Habitat Preferences: Throughout most of its range, the prairie vole may occur in various open habitats. The population is highest in grass and mixed grass and weeds where the vegetation is rank and lush; it is lower where plant growth is short and sparse. Prairie voles also thrive in hay fields, in plantings of alfalfa and soybeans, and along field borders where shrubs and other woody vegetation may be interspersed with ground plants. In Tennessee, Severinghaus and Beasley obtained 65% of their catch in old field habitat and 35% at field edges. Prairie voles use right-of-ways along roads as dispersal routes, although frequent close mowing of such grassy strips can discourage their movements.

In northern parts of the prairie vole's range, it often shares habitats with the meadow vole. These two voles may occur in the same areas, although the prairie vole tends to occupy the dry grassland sites while the meadow vole prefers more moist situations. The prairie vole's habitat preferences in Michigan have not yet been analyzed. Wood found this rodent "… in a small meadow near Birchwood Beach;" in Berrien County, Dice obtained the species in wheat stubble, sedge and rush habitat at Warren Woods in the same county; Brewer caught the animal in "…a strip of weeds and grass on the right-of-way of the Grand Trunk Railroad" in Kalamazoo County; and Master reported a male taken in farm land near Paw Paw in Van Buren County.