Red-backed voles

Mink (Mustela vison) collected from the Northwest Territories of Canada between 1991 and 1995 had liver mirex concentrations between 0.08 and 0.39 pg/kg FW. These extremely low mirex concentrations were, nevertheless, higher than liver mirex concentrations in prey species (snowshoe hare, Lepus americanus, 0.08 to 0.13 pg/kg FW northern red-backed vole, Clethrionomys rutilus, 0.32 pg/kg FW), suggesting that mirex biomagnification in mammalian wildlife food chains is possible (Poole et al. 1998). 

Prey species, liver Northern red-backed vole, Clethrlonomys rutilus 0.5-4.7 FW 10... 

Muridue Arvicolinae Clethrionomys glareolus Red-backed vole [1.701] ... 

Field vole. Microtis agrestis, 27 Lemmus spp., 179,552, 553 Microtus spp., 27,179, 267,585,703, 721, 807 Northern red-backed vole, Clethrionomys rutilis, 514... 

EHfferences also occur in the characteristics of the repetitious DNA between closely related species of rodents (Hennig and Walker, 1970). Within the family Cricetidae, Arvicola (water vole) has only 5 percent of its DNA in the intermediate fraction, whereas in one species of Clethrionomys (red-backed vole) 11 percent of the DNA is of the intermediate type. In Rattus rattus (black rat) about 4 percent of the DNA has repetitiousness of the intermediate type, h xi Apodemus flavicollis (field mouse) has 13 percent of its DNA in the intermediate fraction. Both R. rattus and A. flavicollis are members of the family Muridae. 

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