A thaw destroys the subnivean tunnels that protect meadow mice

Evidence

A meadow mouse, startled by my approach, darts damply across the skunk track. Why is he abroad in daylight? Probably because he feels grieved about the thaw. Today his maze of secret tunnels, laboriously chewed through the matted grass under the snow, are tunnels no more, but only paths exposed to public view and ridicule. Indeed the thawing sun has mocked the basic premises of the microtine economic system! — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 19

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘microtine economic system’ and subnivean ecology connect to the reader’s disturbance-history and landscape-reading themes from the environmental-studies polyad. — connects to: An early spring thaw lures prey into recklessness that predators exploit — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: With Other…, 23; Thaw-driven events date the ecological year’s renewing cycle — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: With Other…, 16