Northern red-backed vole northern forest and shrubland habitats. They occur in every major forest type in central Alaska. Plant species commonly found in areas occupied by northern red-backed voles include black spruce ("Picea mariana"), white spruce ("P. glauca"), quaking aspen ("Populus tremuloides"), paper birch ("Betula papyrifera"), alder ("Alnus" spp.), willow ("Salix" spp.), mountain cranberry ("Vaccinium vitis-idaea"), blueberry and bilberry ("Vaccinium" spp.), bunchberry ("Cornus canadensis"), and a variety of grasses and forbs. Important fungi, mosses and lichens include truffle ("Endogone fascilulata"), Schreber's moss ("Pleurozium schreberi"), mountain fern moss ("Hylocomium splendens"), sphagnum ("Sphagnum" spp.), and lichens ("Cladonia and Peltigera" spp.). The breeding season of northern
Plant cover Plant cover The abundances of plant species are often measured by plant cover, which is the relative area covered by different plant species in a small plot. Plant cover is not biased by the size and distributions of individuals, and is an important and often measured characteristic of the composition of plant communities. Plant cover data may be used to classify the studied plant community into a vegetation type, to test different ecological hypothesis on plant abundance, and in gradient studies, where the effects of different environmental gradients on the abundance of specific plant species are investigated. The most common