Northern Red-backed Vole - Cover Requirements

Cover Requirements

Northern red-backed voles inhabit areas that contain dense ground cover for protection from weather and predation. On the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in south-central Alaska, the presence of northern red-backed voles was positively correlated with protective cover. During the winter, northern red-backed voles use layers of thick moss or matted vegetation as thermal cover. 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.