Global and European regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)
EU 27 regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)

This species has a restricted range, but there is no evidence of population or range decline and the core range is protected. Currently, it is considered Least Concern both globally and for the EU27 member states, however, if new information suggests that population, range, or habitat quality is declining, uplisting to Near Threatened or Vulnerable should be considered. This species is included in the Red Data Book of Ukraine (Zagorodmyuk 2009) in general and in the Ukrainian Carpathians in particular (Potish and Bashta 2011).

The Tatra Vole is a European endemic species, native to the Carpathian Mountains arc between Tatra Mts., Beskidy in Slovakia, south-western Poland, and the Ciucaș Mts. in southern Romania. The most obvious large-scale gaps are between the western fragment in Slovakia and Poland and the eastern fragment in Ukraine and northern Romania; another gap is in Romania where Ciucaș Mts. (the Curvature Carpathians) is a far southern isolated subpopulation (Martínková and Dudich 2003, Kryštufek and Shenbrot 2022).

The vertical range of localities is 600-2,343 m; the majority of records however are the mountains between 1,100 and 1,700 m, hence the distribution is fragmented at various scales.

It is a rare species that occurs in isolated subpopulations, for example in Slovakia one study observed low abundance and population densities (Rudá et al. 2010a). In the study in West Tatra Mts average population density over 12 years was 1.1 ± 0.73 individuals/hectare and no major population fluctuations or population outbreaks are known. Home range sizes are small and average 586 m² in females and 836 m² in males; the longest recorded movement was 260 m. Furthermore, the Tatra vole was not found in Beskid Zywiecki Mts. and Babiogorski National Park, Poland, during 2010-2013 monitoring (Wazna and Cichocki 2013) and confirmation of its presence is needed. There is very little information on the current status of subspecies Microtus tatricus zykovi in the Eastern Carpathians and subspecific status of the southern Carpathians isole is unknown. The range fragmentation appears partly natural, as the species is restricted to an intrinsically fragmented habitat type (high mountains), but fragmentation may have been exacerbated by the loss of woodland in mountain valleys through human activities in historical times.

The Tatra Vole is found in two types of habitat: first, humid areas in climax upper montane spruce forest with dense understory and numerous fallen logs; and second, humid rocky meadows in the subalpine zone. The species is never found outside natural habitats (e.g. in agricultural land) (Jurdíková et al. 2000, Martínková et al. 2004, Rudá et al. 2010a). Reproduction is slow according to rodent standards: both sexes attain sexual maturity in their second year, the reproductive season lasts about 140 days (April-September), litters are small (number of embryos = 1-4, mean = 2.46) and an average female putatively delivers 7.87 cubs per season. These voles are vegetarian, feeding primarily on green leaves of dicotyledonous plants (Krystofik and Danko 2012, Kryštufek 2017).

Low genetic variability can be a potential threat to long-term survival of the species. Estimated values of the effective population size are below the population size threshold recommended to minimise inbreeding depression and maintain sufficient evolutionary potential (Rudá et al. 2010b). Otherwise, there are no thought to be any major threats causing significant declines at present. The species requires old, mature forests below the timberline, hence any logging in those areas would be harmful. Its habitat in the subalpine zone, above the timberline should be safe in the near future. Much of its range in the Slovak and Polish mountains falls within protected areas, and there are no thought to be any major developments planned in this area in the near future. However, forest habitat is sometimes lost through natural events (e.g. in 2004 a big storm in the High Tatras destroyed a large 1-2 km wide belt of forest at about 1,000 m above sea level, within the range of the vole (N. Martínková pers. comm. 2006).

This species is not used or traded.

It is listed on Appendix II of the Bern Convention. The core range of the species' range in Slovakia and Poland falls within protected areas. Habitat and population monitoring is required to ensure that the species is stable and not declining. The Carpathians in Romania should be carefully surveyed to see if the large distribution gap is genuine.