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WILDLIFE SPECIES:  Myodes rutilus

Introductory
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Myodes rutilus

AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION : 
Tesky, Julie L. 1994. Myodes rutilus. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. 
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: 
www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/animals/mammal/muni/all.html [].


ABBREVIATION : 
MYRU

COMMON NAMES : 
   northern red-backed vole
   tundra vole


TAXONOMY : 
The currently accepted scientific name for the northern red-backed vole
is Myodes rutilus (Pallas).  It is in the family Cricetidae [26].


ORDER : 
Rodentia

CLASS : 
Mammal

FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS : 
No special status

OTHER STATUS : 
NO-ENTRY

WILDLIFE DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Myodes rutilus
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
The northern red-backed vole is a holarctic species distributed from
northern Scandinavia across the Russian Republics and, in North America,
from Alaska to the Hudson Bay [1].  The specific ranges of the
subspecies are not described in the literature.


ECOSYSTEMS : 
FRES11 Spruce-fir
FRES19 Aspen-birch
FRES23 Fir-spruce


STATES : 


    
AK
 



    
BC
    
MB
    
NT
    
YT
 



BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
NO-ENTRY


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K093  Great Lakes spruce - fir forest
   K094  Conifer bog


SAF COVER TYPES : 
    12  Black spruce
    16  Aspen
    18  Paper birch
   107  White spruce
   201  White spruce
   202  White spruce - paper birch
   204  Black spruce
   251  White spruce - aspen
   253  Black spruce - white spruce
   254  Black spruce -  paper birch


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Northern red-backed voles live in a variety of northern forest and
shrubland habitats [1,6].  They occur in every major forest type in
central Alaska [21].  Plant species commonly found in areas occupied by
northern red-backed voles include black spruce (Picea mariana), white
spruce (P. glauca), quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), paper birch
(Betula papyrifera), alder (Alnus spp.), willow (Salix spp.), mountain
cranberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), blueberry and bilberry (Vaccinium
spp.), bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), and a variety of grasses and
forbs.  Important fungi, mosses and lichens include truffle (Endogone
fascilulata), Schreber's moss (Pleurozium schreberi), mountain fern moss
(Hylocomium splendens), sphagnum (Sphagnum spp.), and lichens (Cladonia
and Peltigera spp.) [2,21].


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

BIOLOGICAL DATA AND HABITAT REQUIREMENTS
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Myodes rutilus
TIMING OF MAJOR LIFE HISTORY EVENTS : 
Breeding season - The breeding season of northern red-backed voles
generally extends from May to August.  Females are polyestrous and
produce two or three litters during the breeding season.  The first
litter is produced in late May or early June [1].

Litter size - Information regarding the gestation period of northern
red-backed voles was not available.  Litter size ranges from four to
nine.  The average litter size is 5.93 [1].

Growth of young and sexual maturity - Young northern red-backed voles
are unable to regulate their temperature successfully until about 18
days.  At this time they are weaned and leave the nest.  Young grow
little during the winter because of low food supplies.  Age of sexual
maturity depends to some extent on time of birth.  About 20 percent of
females from the first litter breed during the summer of birth.  The
remaining 80 percent, and later litters, breed the following May [1].
Martell and Fuller [12] found that the onset of summer breeding was
related to the time of snowmelt.  A late spring was followed by a low
rate of maturation of young-of-the-year females [12].

In dense populations of northern red-backed voles, sexual maturation of
young females may be delayed, or they may migrate to a vacant breeding
space [8].  Information was not available regarding sexual maturation of
male northern red-backed voles.

Behavior - Northern red-backed voles are mainly nocturnal and
crepuscular but are of necessity about during the prolonged arctic
daylight season [1].


PREFERRED HABITAT : 
Northern red-backed voles are commonly found in northern shrub
vegetation or open taiga forests.  They also inhabit tundra [1,12,21].
Northern red-backed voles are abundant on early successional sites as
well as in mature forests [21].  They occasionally inhabit rock fields
and talus slopes [1].

Northern red-backed voles use surface runways through the vegetation as
travel corridors.  Nests are built in short underground burrows or under
some protective object such as a rock or root [1].  Northern red-backed
voles are active all winter and construct long tunnels under the snow.
Winter nests typically are placed on the ground among thick moss [1,21].
Northern red-backed voles frequently invade houses during the winter
[1].


COVER REQUIREMENTS : 
Northern red-backed voles inhabit areas that contain dense ground cover
for protection from weather and predation [19,21].  On the Kenai
National Wildlife Refuge in south-central Alaska, the presence of
northern red-backed voles was positively correlated with protective
cover [2].  During the winter, northern red-backed voles use layers of
thick moss or matted vegetation as thermal cover [20,21].  During the
mid-winter months in a spruce forest of central Alaska, all northern
red-backed voles on a control area aggregated in a small area of thick
moss cover, despite abundant food resources elsewhere on the trapping
grid [21].


FOOD HABITS : 
Northern red-backed voles eat the leaves, buds, twigs and berries of
numerous shrubs; they also eat forbs, fungi, mosses, lichens, and
occasionally insects [1,2,21].  Berries are generally the major food
item in the diet of northern red-backed voles and are eaten whenever
available.  In central Alaska, West [21] found that northern red-backed
voles relied heavily upon the fruits of several berry-producing plants
during all seasons.  These included bog blueberry (Vaccinium
uliginosum), mountain cranberry, black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum),
comandra (Comandra livida), and bunchberry.  Northern red-backed voles
primarily ate berries during the fall and winter.  Lichens were consumed
only during the winter and spring.  In early summer, when berries are
not available, mosses (unspecified spp.) were eaten.  The mid- to late
summer diet of northern red-backed voles also included a large
proportion of mosses, although berries were still the primary food [21].

Northern red-backed voles on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge fed
during the summer on berries of species such as mountain cranberry and
bunchberry.  They also ate fungi, succulent green plants, and insects.
As fungi became plentiful late in the summer, they made up a large
percentage of the diet.  Mountain cranberry consumption declined as the
summer progressed even though berry abundance increased.  This suggests
that fungi were preferred over mountain cranberries.  The amount of
truffle in the diet remained constant throughout the summer [2].


PREDATORS : 
Some predators of northern red-backed voles include American marten
(Martes americana), Arctic fox (Alopex lagopus), red fox (Vulpes
vulpes), short-tail weasel (Mustela erminea), coyote (Canis latrans)
[15,19,24], and probably most other predators of small mammals that
occur within the range of northern red-backed voles.  In Alaska,
northern red-backed voles and voles (Microtus spp.) comprised 74 percent
of the diet of American martens in the summer and 68 percent of the diet
during the winter [24].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Small mammals are the primary means by which hypogeous fungal spores are
dispersed.  The extensive use of hypogeous fungi, such as truffle, by
northern red-backed voles promotes the establishment of symbiosis
between mycorrhizal fungi and higher plants in disturbed forest areas on
the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska [2].


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

FIRE EFFECTS AND USE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Myodes rutilus
DIRECT FIRE EFFECTS ON ANIMALS : 
Dead northern red-backed voles have been found in the ashes immediately
after a summer fire on the Kenai National Moose Range in south-central
Alaska [25].  In Alberta, a 640 acre (259 ha) area of mixed spruce and
quaking aspen was searched after a severe wildfire, and three dead voles
(Clethrionomys spp.) were found [3].  Bendell [3] stated that many fires
burn unevenly and refugia are often available for some birds and
mammals.


HABITAT RELATED FIRE EFFECTS : 
Fire may result in a temporary loss of cover and food for northern
red-backed voles and increased exposure to predation [19,21].  However,
after cover and food resources recover, northern red-backed voles are
able to colonize burned areas.  Fires in black spruce communities of
Alaska and northern Canada are commonly lightning caused and tend to be
large [11,17].  Fire return intervals average 80 to 200 years [14,17].

Northern red-backed voles are eventually able to inhabit most burned
areas in central Alaska [21].  Some berry-producing shrubs, important to
northern red-backed voles, often increase in cover and vigor after low
severity fire [4]; mountain cranberry may regain prefire densities
within 2 to 6 years [16,21].  However, other species recover slowly;
black crowberry may not reach prefire densities for 20 to 30 years [10].
Severe, stand-destroying fires that consume the organic layer can kill
the roots of many berry-producing shrubs, reducing the potential for
sprouting and delaying revegetation [13,17].

In July 1971, a lightning caused fire burned 16,061 acres (6,500 ha) of
black spruce forest in the hills between Wickersham Dome and Washington
Creek 25 miles (40 km) north of Fairbanks, Alaska.  Establishment of a
permanent population of northern red-backed voles on the burned area did
not occur until 4 years after the fire.  Northern red-backed voles began
to use the burn area starting in July of 1972.  However, prior to the
summer of 1975 the use of the burned area by northern red-backed voles
was intermittent due to insufficient food and cover for overwintering.
No berries were produced in the burn until the summer of 1975, and then
berry production was considerably lower than that in the unburned
control area.  In the burned area, during winter 1975-1976, the 4-year
accumulation of calamagrostis (Calamagrostis spp.) debris may have
provided patches of matted vegetation suitable for winter cover.
Despite establishment of a resident population in 1975, recruitment was
mostly dependent upon immigrant voles, most importantly pregnant females
[21].

One year after a fire in south-central Alaska, numbers of northern
red-backed voles seemed to be nearly equal inside and outside the burn.
The fire left many islands of unburned habitat throughout the burn; much
cover was left on the burn area [25].

Following fire in the Mackenzie Delta area of the Northwest Territories,
grass-dominated communities usually predominate early succession.  These
grass communities are generally unsuitable habitat for northern
red-backed voles [19], probably due to lack of food and cover.


FIRE USE : 
NO-ENTRY

FIRE REGIMES : 
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this 
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".

REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

REFERENCES
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Myodes rutilus



REFERENCES : 

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       Peninsula, Alaska. Canadian Field-Naturalist. 98: 489-492.  [23792]
 
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 .  Maikawa, E.; Kershaw, K. A. 1976. Studies on lichen-dominated systems.
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