The woodland vole (Microtus pinetorum) is a small vole found in eastern North America. It is also known as the pine vole.
Characteristics
The woodland vole has a head and body length ranging between with a short tail. Its weight ranges between . It has a brown (light or dark) dorsal region with a whitish or silvery underside. The eyes, external ears and tail are reduced to adapt to their partially subterranean lifestyle.
Ecology
The woodland vole lives throughout the eastern United States, ranging as far as Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. They inhabit deciduous forests, dry fields, and apple orchards. Voles prefer wooded areas with high vertical vegetative stratification but also evergreen shrubs, ground cover, and old fallen logs. Deciduous forests with moist, friable soils are suitable for burrowing and voles are most abundant in these habitats. However, they can also be found in other habitats from dry fields to the edges of coastal bays. In addition, apple orchards are a favorite habitat. The root systems of trees are an important food source for vole and thus tree spacing affects the density of vole populations. Voles spend most of their time underground in their burrow systems and seldom venture into the surface. This makes them safe from hawks and owls. Helpers are immigrants from other groups. Group emigration is uncommon and dependent on whether there are available positions in other groups. Because females are dispersed with little overlap of different colonies, polygamy is rare among voles. In addition, the breeding female in a family group will stress the reproduction of female helpers. Females are fiercely loyal to their partners and are highly aggressive towards unfamiliar males.