University of Kansas Publications

Museum of Natural History

Volume 8, No. 6, pp. 361-416, 19 figures in text

April 2, 1956

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

BY

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

Contents

A POPULATION STUDY
OF THE PRAIRIE VOLE (MICROTUS OCHROGASTER)
IN NORTHEASTERN KANSAS

By
Edwin P. Martin

INTRODUCTION

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.

I acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. Henry S. Fitch, resident investigator on the University of Kansas Natural History Reservation. In addition to supplying guidance and encouragement in both the planning and execution of the investigation, Dr. Fitch made available for study the data from his extensive field work. Interest in and understanding of ecology were stimulated by his teaching and his example. Special debts are also acknowledged to Mr. John Poole for the use of his field notes and to Professor E. Raymond Hall, Chairman of the Department of Zoology, for several courtesies. Dr. R. L. McGregor of the Department of Botany at the University of Kansas assisted with the identification of some of the plants. Drawings of skulls were made by Victor Hogg.

Of the numerous publications concerning Microtus pennsylvanicus, those of Bailey (1924), Blair (1940; 1948) and Hamilton (1937a; 1937c; 1940; 1941) were especially useful in supplying background and suggesting methods for the present study. Publications not concerned primarily with voles, that were especially valuable to me in providing methods and interpretations applicable to my study, were those of Blair (1941), Hayne (1949a; 1949b), Mohr (1943; 1947), Stickel (1946; 1948) and Summerhayes (1941). Faunal and ecological reports dealing with M. ochrogaster and containing useful information on habits and habitat included those of Black