A Population Study of the Prairie Vole (Microtus ochrogaster) in Northeastern Kansas

University of Kansas Publications
Museum of Natural History
Volume 8, No. 6, pp. 361-416, 19 figures in text
April 2, 1956
EDWIN P. MARTIN
University of Kansas Lawrence 1956
University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, A. Byron Leonard, Robert W. Wilson
Volume 8, No. 6, pp. 361-416, 19 figures in text Published April 2, 1956
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
PRINTED BY FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER TOPEKA, KANSAS 1956 25-9225

Perhaps the most important species of mammal in the grasslands of Kansas and neighboring states is the prairie vole, Microtus ochrogaster (Wagner). Because of its abundance this vole exerts a profound influence on the quantity and composition of the vegetation by feeding, trampling and burrowing; also it is important in food chains which sustain many other mammals, reptiles and birds. Although the closely related meadow vole, M. pennsylvanicus , of the eastern United States, has been studied both extensively and intensively, relatively little information concerning M. ochrogaster has been accumulated heretofore.