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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Microtus pennsylvanicus
Meadow Vole

 
Scientific Name: Microtus pennsylvanicus (Ord, 1815)
English Name: Meadow Vole
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: Wilson, D. E., and D. M. Reeder (editors). 1993. Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Second edition. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. xviii + 1206 pp. Available online at: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/msw/.
Classification Level: Species
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: M-MIDR
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Mammalia Rodentia Cricetidae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G5 (Aug 2025)
Provincial Status: S5 (Jan 2024)
BC List: Yellow
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status:
SARA Schedule:
General Status Canada: 4 - Secure (2005)
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description:
Global Reproduction Comments: Breeds throughout year, if snow provides an insulating layer. Peak breeding activity occurs April-October. Gestation lasts about 21 days. Litter size is 1-9 (average 4-5); litter size is smaller in fall than in spring/summer; 5-10 litters per year.
Global Ecology Comments: Home range seldom exceeds 0.25 acres (Banfield 1974). Successful homing of 11 of 848 voles displaced 1.2 km indicates that dispersal distance likely is more than 1 km (Ostfeld and Manson 1996, J. Mamm. 77:870-873).

Cyclic density fluctuations may occur every 2-5 years (Krebs and Myers 1974). High densities of 50-60 per acre not unusual; average densities probably closer to 8-10 per acre (Baker 1983).

Can affect old-field succession through seedling predation (Ostfeld and Canham 1993).
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		Y /
N /
N /
na /
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence)
Global Habitat Comments: Found in a wide variety of habitats from dry pastures and wooded swamps to marshes and orchards. Needs loose organic soils for tunneling. Builds extensive underground tunnels. Nests in these tunnels under rocks or logs, and in self-constructed grassy clumps.
Food Habits: Herbivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: Diet consists mainly of vegetable matter, such as grasses, roots and seeds.
Global Phenology: Circadian: Adult, Immature
Global Phenology Comments: Active day and night throughout the year. At any one time half the population is active (Ambrose 1973).
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): 20/ / 70
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: Occurs throughout most of Canada and Alaska south through the northern half of the U.S., to Oregon, northern Utah, central New Mexico, Kansas, northern Missouri, Georgia, and South Carolina; also disjunctly (by 500 km) in Florida and in Chihuahua, Mexico (Hall 1981). Range has expanded southward in the Great Plains since the mid-1960s as the climate has become cooler and more mesic (Frey 1992).
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: Hammerson, G.
Last Updated: Nov 07, 1996
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
Allen, G.M. 1942. Extinct and vanishing mammals of the Western Hemisphere. Am. Comm. Int. Wild. Prot., Spec. Prob. No. ll. 620 pp.
Ambrose, H.W. 1973. An experimental study of some factors affecting the spatial and temporal activity of Microtis pennsylvanicus. J. Mamm. 54:79-110.
Baker, R. H. 1983. Michigan mammals. Michigan State University Press. 642 pp.
Banfield, A. W. F. 1974. The mammals of Canada. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Canada. 438 pp.
Chamberlain, J.L. 1954. The Block Island Meadow Mouse, Microtus provectus. J. Mammal. 35:587-589.
Clark, B. K., and D. W. Kaufman. 1990. Short-term responses of small mammals to experimental fire in tallgrass prairie. Can. J. Zool. 68:2450-2454.
Conner, P. F. 1971. The mammals of Long Island, New York. New York State Mus. Science Serv., Bull. No. 416. 78 pp.
Conroy, C. J., and J. A. Cook. 2000. Molecular systematics of a Holarctic rodent (Microtus: Muridae). Journal of Mammalogy 81:344-359.
Frey, J. K. 1992. Response of a mammalian faunal element to climatic changes. J. Mamm. 73:43-50.
Godin, A. J. 1977. Wild mammals of New England. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. 304 pp.
Hall, E. R. 1981a. The Mammals of North America, second edition. Vols. I & II. John Wiley & Sons, New York, New York. 1181 pp.
Hamilton, W. J., Jr., and J. O. Whitaker, Jr. 1979. Mammals of the eastern United States. Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca, New York. 346 pp.
Jones, J. K., Jr., R. S. Hoffman, D. W. Rice, C. Jones, R. J. Baker, and M. D. Engstrom. 1992a. Revised checklist of North American mammals north of Mexico, 1991. Occasional Papers, The Museum, Texas Tech University, 146:1-23.
Krebs, C.J. and J.H. Myers. 1974. Population cycles in small mammals. Adv. Ecol. Res. 8:267-399.
Modi, W. S. 1986. Karyotypic differentiation among two sibling species pairs of New World microtine rodents. J. Mammalogy 67:159-165.
Moore, D. W., and L. L. Janecek. 1990. Genic relationships among North American Microtus (Mammalia: Rodentia). Ann. Carnegie Mus. 59:249-259.
Moyer, C. A., G. H. Adler, and R. H. Tamarin. 1988. Systematics of New England Microtus, with emphasis on Microtus breweri. Journal of Mammalogy 69:782-794.
Nagorsen, D. W. 2005b. The rodents and lagomorphs of British Columbia. Royal B.C. Mus. Handb., Victoria, BC. 410pp.
Ostfeld, R. S., and C. D. Canham. 1993. Effects of meadow vole population density on tree seedling survival in old fields. Ecology 74:1792-1801.
Plante, Y., P. T. Boag, and B. N. White. 1989. Macrogeographic variation in mitochondrial DNA of meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus). Can. J. Zool. 67:158-167.
Reich, L.M. 1981. Microtus pennsylvanicus. Am. Soc. Mamm., Mammalian Species No. 159. 8pp.
Schwartz, C. W., and E. R. Schwartz. 1981. The wild mammals of Missouri. University of Missouri Press, Columbia. 356 pp.
Sullivan, T. P., and D. S. Sullivan. 1988. Influence of alternative foods on vole populations and damge in apple orchards. Wildl. Soc. Bull. 16:170-175.
Swihart, R. K. 1990. Quebracho, thiram, and methiocarb reduce consumption of apple twigs by meadow voles. Wildl. Soc. Bull. 18:162-166.
Tamarin, R. H., editor. 1985. Biology of New World Microtus. American Soc. Mamm. Special Publication (8):1-893.
Tobin, M. E., and M. E. Richmond. 1993. Vole management in fruit orchards. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Report 5. ii + 18 pp.
Wilson, D. E., and D. M. Reeder (editors). 1993. Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Second edition. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. xviii + 1206 pp. Available online at: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/msw/.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1996. Species Summary: Microtus pennsylvanicus. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Apr 11, 2026).