A Population Study of the Prairie Vole (Microtus ochrogaster) in Northeastern KansasMartin, Edwin Perry
Science
A Population Study of the Prairie Vole (Microtus ochrogaster) in Northeastern Kansas
Martin, Edwin Perry
Microtus
A difference in the mean number of young per litter was noted for those
litters delivered in traps as compared with those delivered in captivity
and the numbers of embryos examined in the uterus. The mean number of
embryos per female was higher than the mean number of young per litter
delivered in captivity and the mean number of young per litter delivered
in traps was lower than in those delivered in captivity. The differences
were not statistically significant. In some instances females that
delivered young voles in traps may have delivered others prior to
entering the trap or the mother or her trapmates may have eaten some of
the newborn voles before they were discovered.
The mean weight of 16 newborn (less than one day old) individuals was
2.8 +- 0.36 grams. No other data on the weight of newborn _M.
ochrogaster_ were found in the literature but this mean was close to the
3.0 grams (Bailey, 1924:530) and 2.07 grams (Hamilton, 1937a:504;
1941:10) reported for _M. pennsylvanicus_ and to the 2.7 grams (Selle,
1928:97) and 2.8 grams (Hatfield, 1935:268) reported for _M.
californicus_. No correlation between the weight of the individual
newborn vole and the number of voles per litter was observed.
Although the ratio of the average weight of newborn voles to the average
weight of an adult female was approximately equal for _M.
pennsylvanicus_ and _M. ochrogaster_, the ratio of the weight of a
litter to the average weight of an adult female was larger in the
eastern meadow vole because the mean litter size was larger. Perhaps
this is related to the more productive habitat in which the eastern
meadow vole is ordinarily found.
Size, Growth Rates and Life Spans
The mean weight of adult voles during the period of study was 43.78
grams. The females averaged slightly heavier than the males but the
overlapping of weights was so extensive that sexual difference in weight
could not be affirmed. The difference observed was less in December and
January when gravid females were rare, suggesting that the difference
was due, at least in part, to pregnancy. Jameson (1947:128) found, for a
sample of 50 voles, a mean weight of 44 grams and a range of 38 to 58
grams. The range in the adult voles I studied was much greater, from 25
to 73 grams. In part, this increase in the range of adult weights was
due to a much larger sample.
[Illustration: FIG. 11. Relationship between rainfall and the mean
weight of adult males in summer. The abnormally low rainfall in the
summer of 1952 was accompanied by a decrease in mean weight. The solid
line represents mean weight and the broken line rainfall. The
correlation coefficient between the two was 0.68.]
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