A factorial field experiment was used to assess the influence of soil-disturber mammals in the structure of a 9-year-old Mediterranean annual plant community subjected to different sheep grazing and irrigation regimes. We estimated the disturbance rate (mound building activity) by Mediterranean voles, their effects on vegetation and the mechanisms of these effects during a period of vole outbreak. The effects on vegetation were analysed at the levels of species, functional groups and plant community. Disturbance rate was high and