The unprecedented pandemic COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), with bats as original reservoirs, has once again highlighted the importance of exploring the interface of wildlife diseases and human health. In this study, we identified a novel Betacoronavirus from bank voles (Myodes glareolus) in Grimsö, ...
Published in Current biology : CB
Predator-prey interactions are ubiquitous and powerful forces that structure ecological communities.1-3 Habitat complexity has been shown to be particularly important in regulating the strength of predator-prey interactions.4-6 While it is well established that changes in habitat structure can alter the efficacy of predatory and anti-predatory beha...
Published in Emerging Infectious Diseases
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a naturally-occurring neurodegenerative disease of cervids. Raccoons ( Procyon lotor ) and meadow voles ( Microtus pennsylvanicus ) have previously been shown to be susceptible to the CWD agent. To investigate the potential for transmission of the agent of CWD from white-tailed deer to voles and subsequently to racc...
Voles are maintenance hosts of Mycobacterium microti. In line with the goal to eradicate tuberculosis (TB) in livestock, the role of this mycobacteria needs to be assessed since it might interfere with current M. bovis/M. caprae surveillance strategies. To better understand the pathogenesis of TB in voles, an experimental infection model was set up...
Published in Biology Bulletin
AbstractWe analyzed the relationships between the modularity and integration of the morphotypic variability of the first lower molar (m1) in gray voles, Microtus s. l., based on fluctuating asymmetry data. In total, 5500 pairs of masticatory surface outlines of the left and right first lower molar m1 were studied. Fifty-seven different morphotypes ...
Published in Russian Journal of Ecology
Abstract—To test the hypothesis that animals from habitats exposed to high anthropogenic pressure are more successful in adapting to captivity, immature narrow-skulled voles trapped in different zones of Karasuk Research Station (Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals) and beyond its boundaries were kept under laboratory conditions. Voles ...
Diets and trophic positions of co-occurring animals are fundamental issues in their ecology, and these issues in syntopic rodents have been studied insufficiently. Using carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope ratios from hair samples, we analysed the trophic niches of common (Microtus arvalis), field (M. agrestis), and root (M. oeconomus)...
Babesia microti (Aconoidasida: Piroplasmida) (Franca, 1910) is an emerging tick-borne parasite with rodents serving as the considered reservoir host. However, the distribution of B. microti in Europe is insufficiently characterized. Based on the sample of 1180 rodents from 19 study sites in Lithuania, the objectives of this study were: (1) to inves...
Published in Frontiers in Genetics
The formation of hybrid sterility is an important stage of speciation. The voles of the genus Microtus, which is the most speciose genus of rodents, provide a good model for studying the cytological mechanisms of hybrid sterility. The voles of the “mystacinus” group of the subgenus Microtus (2n = 54) comprising several recently diverged forms with ...
Burrowing rodents can cause extensive damage in organic production systems. The three most common species that cause damage are California ground squirrels (Otospermophilus spp.), Pocket Gophers (Thomomys spp.), and the Meadow vole (Microtus spp.)This publication outlines management within organically acceptable methods using an IPM approach.
