Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Rodentia > Cricetidae > Microtus > Microtus agrestis

Microtus agrestis (field vole)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

The field vole or short-tailed vole (Microtus agrestis) is a grey-brown vole, around four inches (ten centimetres) 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 field vole is both wides
View Wikipedia Record: Microtus agrestis

Infraspecies

Microtus agrestis macgillivraii

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
3
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
22
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 8.2
EDGE Score: 2.22
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  46 grams
Birth Weight [1]  2 grams
Diet [2]  Granivore, Herbivore
Diet - Plants [2]  80 %
Diet - Seeds [2]  20 %
Forages - Ground [2]  100 %
Female Maturity [1]  36 days
Male Maturity [1]  42 days
Gestation [1]  21 days
Litter Size [1]  4
Litters / Year [1]  4
Maximum Longevity [1]  5 years
Weaning [1]  13 days

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Ecosystems

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Mediterranean Basin Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Portugal, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey No

Prey / Diet

Carex rostrata (beaked sedge)[3]
Poa pratensis (Kentucky bluegrass)[3]
Trifolium pratense (Red Clover)[3]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Predators

Consumers

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 2Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 3Ecology of Commanster
♦ 4Avian and mammalian predators of shrews in Europe: regional differences, between-year and seasonal variation, and mortality due to predation, Erkki Korpimäki & Kai Norrdahl, Ann. Zool. Fennici 26:389-400. 1989
♦ 5Prey choice of Tengmalm's owls (Aegolius funereus funereus): preference for substandard individuals?, Vesa Koivunen, Erkki Korpimäki, Harri Hakkarainen, and Kai Norrdahl, Can. J. Zool. 74: 816-823 (1996)
♦ 6del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 7DIET COMPOSITION OF THE LONG-EARED OWL IN SLOVENIA: SEASONAL VARIATION IN PREY USE, DAVORIN TOME, J Raptor Res. 28(4):253-258
♦ 8Nestling diet and parental provisioning behaviour in the Marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus), Marcin BRZEZIŃSKI, Michał ŻMIHORSKI, Acta Zoologica Lituanica, 2009, Volumen 19, Numerus 2
♦ 9Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 10Food habits of Zamenis longissimus (Laurenti, 1768) (Reptilia: Serpentes: Colubridae) in Bieszczady (south-eastern Poland), BARTŁOMIEJ NAJBAR, Vertebrate Zoology 57 (1) 2007, 73-77
♦ 11Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
♦ 12International Flea Database
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0