Prairie Vole Microtus Ochrogaster

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prairie vole Microtus ochrogaster Kingdom: Animalia Division/Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Rodentia Family: Cricetidae ILLINOIS STATUS common, native FEATURES The tan and dark hairs on a prairie vole’s back give it a salt-and-pepper appearance. The belly fur is golden, yellow or red. The upper side of the tail is about the same color as the back while the lower side of the tail is lighter than the belly. BEHAVIORS The prairie vole may be found statewide in Illinois. It lives in grassy fields such as ungrazed pastures, alfalfa fields, roadsides and prairies. This mammal eats seeds, roots, mosses, alfalfa, blue grasses, clovers, dandelions and goldenrods. It is active during the night and day using a system of runways to get from one burrow to another. This vole uses several aggressive behaviors against other voles, among them “boxing,” chasing, lunging, standing upright, threatening and wrestling. Mating may occur year round although it is more frequent in spring and fall. Litter size is normally three to five. The large nest is built under ground in a part of the burrow system. Young are helpless at birth but develop rapidly and are able to live on their own at about two and one-half weeks of age. Life expectancy of this vole is about one to two months. HABITATS Aquatic Habitats wet prairies and fens Woodland Habitats none Prairie and Edge Habitats black soil prairie; dolomite prairie; edge; gravel prairie; hill prairie; sand prairie; shrub prairie © Illinois Department of Natural Resources. 2017. Biodiversity of Illinois. .

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Emory Health
Health care for the working poor 8 After cancer, what next? 12 Smallpox chronicles 25 PATIENT CARE, RESEARCH, AND EDUCATION FROM Spring 2010 THE WOODRUFF HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER Why do voles fall in love? And what that means for human health. 2 FEATURE LISTENING TO THE HORMONES CouplingBy Sylvia Wrobel Monogamy—vole style What does love—or at least monogamy—have to do with autism, schizophrenia, and other conditions with deficits in socialcial awarenessawareness and attachment? Larry Young (left) believes his quirky little prairie voles hold some answers. Once mating is over, fidelity does not come naturally to the vast majority of species.. Even within species whose members do engage in social bonding, like humans, some individuals are better at it than others. The popular question was, “Why do voles fall In the 1990s, Young (William P. Timmie in love?” The answer, said the scientists, was that oxytocin created lifelong attachment. Professor of Psychiatry at Emory and chief of behavioral neuroscience at Yerkes National Primate Research Center) and Tom Insel (then director of Yerkes and now director of the National Institute of Mental Health) created a scientific and media storm when they reported that the surprisingly ubiquitous and long-lasting monogamy exhibited by a species of voles is attributable to hormones. The popular ques- tion was, “Why do voles fall in love?” The answer, said the scientists, was that oxytocin—the same hormone released during labor, delivery, and breast feeding in humans and that promotes mother-infant bonding— creates the female prairie vole’s lifelong attachment to her male partner.
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Microtus Ochrogaster) from the Southern Plains of Texas and Oklahoma
OCCASIONAL PAPERS Museum of Texas Tech University Number 235 5 May 2004 HISTORICAL ZOOGEOGRAPHY AND TAXONOMIC STATUS OF THE PRAIRIE VOLE (MICROTUS OCHROGASTER) FROM THE SOUTHERN PLAINS OF TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA FREDERICK B. STANGL, JR., JIM R. GOETZE, AND KIMBERLY D. SPRADLING The prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) today is with distinct cranial characters andpale pelage colora considered a species ofthe Great Plains, whose range tion, they described M. o. taylori. extends from the interior grasslands ofsouthern Canada to central Oklahoma and the northernTexas Panhandle, Choate and Williams (1978) perfonned a mor and is generally bordered by the Rocky Mountains to phometric analysis ofthe prairie vole, which included the west and the eastern deciduous woodlands (Bee et material reported onby Hibbard and Rinker (1943) as al. 1981; Hall 1981; Hoffmann andKoeppl 1985; Caire M. o. taylori. Each of their external body measure et al. 1990; Stalling 1990). Duringthe late Pleistocene, ments and four of the seven cranial characters (skull the species occurred throughout much ofTexas, leav length, zygomatic breadth, mastoidal breadth, and least ing fossil evidence as far south as the Edwards Pla interorbital breadth) exhibited significant geographic teau and parts ofthe GulfCoast (Dalquest and Schultz variation. While no geographic patterns were evident 1992; Graham 1987). The species retreated north to suggest subspecific levels of differentiation, popu ward with the advent ofincreasingly arid climate dur lations from the Dakotas to Kansas demonstrated a ing the Holocene. At least one isolated population, M. slight north-to-south elinal increase in size of cranial o. ludovicianus, was stranded during this time, and is characters.
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Young, L.J., & Hammock E.A.D. (2007)
Update TRENDS in Genetics Vol.23 No.5 Research Focus On switches and knobs, microsatellites and monogamy Larry J. Young1 and Elizabeth A.D. Hammock2 1 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, 954 Gatewood Road, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA 2 Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and Department of Pharmacology, 465 21st Avenue South, MRBIII, Room 8114, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA Comparative studies in voles have suggested that a formation. In male prairie voles, infusion of vasopressin polymorphic microsatellite upstream of the Avpr1a locus facilitates the formation of partner preferences in the contributes to the evolution of monogamy. A recent study absence of mating [7]. The distribution of V1aR in the challenged this hypothesis by reporting that there is no brain differs markedly between the socially monogamous relationship between microsatellite structure and mon- and socially nonmonogamous vole species [8]. Site-specific ogamy in 21 vole species. Although the study demon- pharmacological manipulations and viral-vector-mediated strates that the microsatellite is not a universal genetic gene-transfer experiments in prairie, montane and mea- switch that determines mating strategy, the findings do dow voles suggest that the species differences in Avpr1a not preclude a substantial role for Avpr1a in regulating expression in the brain underlie the species differences in social behaviors associated with monogamy. social bonding among these three closely related species of vole [3,6,9,10]. Single genes and social behavior Microsatellites and monogamy The idea that a single gene can markedly influence Analysis of the Avpr1a loci in the four vole species complex social behaviors has recently received consider- mentioned so far (prairie, montane, meadow and pine voles) able attention [1,2].
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Southern Bog Lemming, Synaptomys Cooperi,Andthe Mammals: Their Natural History, Classification, and Meadow Vole, Microtus Pennsylvanicus,Invirginia
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Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science (1988) Volume 98 P
Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science (1988) Volume 98 p. 553-559. BARN OWL FOOD HABITS IN INDIANA Allen R. Parker Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program 300 West First St. Bloomington, Indiana 47403 ABSTRACT: Pellets from barn owls {Tyto alba) were col- lected in Indiana from 1983 to 1987. Skulls, mandibles, palate fragments, and non-principal prey parts were identified and tallied. Prey biomass was estimated using weights from the literature. Of the 12,905 prey items identified, 66% of them were voles {Microtus spp. and Synaptomys cooperi). Major prey buffer species were deer mice {Peromyscus sp.) and short-tailed shrews {Blarina brevicauda). Regional examination of food habits was conducted on 16 areas, and vole dependence ranged from 31% to 80%. The meadow vole {M. pennsylvanicus) was the most important prey species in all but the southwestern coun- ties, where the prairie vole {M. ochrogaster) was most impor- tant. Seasonally, food habits varied only slightly. The mean weight per prey item was lower in Indiana than were those reported for other States. INTRODUCTION The common barn owl {Tyto alba pratincola) is on endangered species lists in 7 midwestern states (Rosenburg, 1986), and its decline has been attributed to changes in agricultural practices (Colvin, 1985). Past research in the Ohio Valley and the eastern United States has revealed that the meadow vole {Microtus penn- sylvanicus) is the primary prey of the barn owl (Colvin and McLean, 1986; Pearson and Pearson, 1947; Rosenburg, 1986). Analysis of small collections of barn owl pellets from Indiana supported this finding (Castrale, et al., 1983).
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® ® University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources Know how. Know now. G887 (Revised September 2011) Controlling Vole Damage Stephen M. Vantassel, Extension Project Coordinator — Wildlife Damage Management Scott E. Hygnstrom, Extension Specialist — Wildlife Damage Management Dennis M. Ferraro, Extension Educator This NebGuide provides information about voles, the damage they cause, and ways to prevent and control damage problems. Voles are small, mouse-like rodents that exist throughout Nebraska. Though commonly called meadow or field mice, their short tails (about 1 inch long), stocky build, and small eyes distinguish them from true mice (Figure 1). Voles can cause problems by damaging lawns, gardens, tree plantings, and other plants. Vole Facts The prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster), the most com- Figure 1. Prairie vole. (Photo: NEBRASKAland Magazine/Nebraska mon species, occurs statewide. Meadow voles (Microtus Game and Parks Commission.) pennsylvanicus) also are very common but cover a slightly Voles are an important source of food for many preda- smaller geographical area. Pine voles, or woodland voles tors, including snakes, hawks, owls, coyotes, weasels, foxes, (Microtus pinetorum), generally are confined to the south- mink, and badgers. Mortality rates for voles are very high. eastern edge of Nebraska along the Missouri river. Life expectancy in the wild often does not exceed 2 months, Voles are small with adults weighing 1 to 2 ounces. Their with few living longer than 16 months. overall adult body length varies from 4½ to 7 inches in the The breeding season for all voles encompasses most of meadow and prairie voles, to about 3 to 5½ inches in the pine the year with peaks occurring in the spring and fall.
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MODEL OF THE MONTH Prairie voles pair up studies of the genetic underpinnings of these and other aspects of SCIENTIFIC NAME prairie vole behavior, researchers developed a bacterial artificial Microtus ochrogaster chromosome library, a prairie vole-mouse comparative cytogenetic 5,6 T AXONOMY map and a genome-wide linkage map for the prairie vole genome . PHYLUM: Chordata Several genes involved in regulating vole behavior have also been ClASS: Mammalia recently sequenced, including those that encode arginine vasopressin, oxytocin, dopamine and their respective receptors7. ORDER: Rodentia Because pair-bonding occurs only after mating, researchers FAmIly: Cricetidae have speculated that epigenetic factors are at play. This suspected involvement was recently confirmed by results from a study in which sexually naive female voles were housed with males for a brief period but did not mate8. Inhibition of epigenetic modification in the Physical description brains of females resulted in transcription of a rginine Prairie voles are hamster-sized rodents vasopressin and oxytocin receptors, much like with small ears and eyes and a short tail. mating did, confirming the link between Their coarse fur is grayish brown on epigenetic modification and pair-bonding. the back but yellowish on the belly. The Continued work could lead to a better scientific name is derived from Greek understanding of how epigenetics affects and is quite descriptive, with the genus social behavior in other species. name translating roughly to ‘small ear’ Prairie voles may be best known and the species epithet to ‘yellow belly.’ for pair-bonding and social attachment They show no sexual dimorphism with Katie Vicaribehavior, but they also have been p roposed respect to size or coloration, with adults mea- as potential models for disorders of social © 2013 Nature America, Inc.
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bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.17.343301; this version posted October 17, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Metapopulation connectivity in Voles (Microtus sp.) as a gauge for tallgrass prairie restoration in midwestern North America Marlis R. Douglas1, Whitney J.B. Anthonysamy1,a, Mark A. Davis2, Matthew P. Mulligan 3, Robert L. Schooley4, Wade Louis5, Michael E. Douglas1,* 1Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701 USA 2Illinois Natural History Survey, University of Illinois, Champaign 61820 USA 3Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago IL 60614 USA 4Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana IL 61801 USA 5Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Gibson City 60936 USA aCurrent address: Basic Sciences, St. Louis College of Pharmacy, MO 63110 USA *[email protected] Short title: Grasslands restoration and vole metapopulation connectivity 1 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.17.343301; this version posted October 17, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 2 Abstract Applying quantifiable metrics to validate the success of restoration efforts is crucial for ongoing 4 management programs in anthropogenically fragmented habitats. Estimates of dispersal can provide such baseline data because they measure not only the extent to which restored patches 6 are colonized and interconnected, but also their metapopulation source/sink dynamics. In this context, we estimated dispersal and population connectivity among prairie (Microtus 8 ochrogaster; N=231) and meadow vole (M.
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