ABSTRACT
The aspen parkland covers the belt between the great plains of central North America and the Precambrian shield. Its southern boundary runs from northeastern Minnesota northwestward through southern Manitoba, central Saskatchewan, and Alberta. At the latitudes of the aspen parkland habitat, winter conditions and snow cover are important factors in the life of animals inhabiting it. Members of all North American rodent families occur in aspen parkland. Trapping of small mammals in winter requires a little more labor as the traps need to be operated below the snow surface. Russian workers have employed specially dug trenches in the snow. Woodlots, although offering some protection, are still more exposed to the action of wind and sun than is the continuous taiga because of their restricted size and the predominance of the deciduous trees. Bowl-shaped depressions are weakly formed or absent under deciduous trees.
