The vegetation, environment and occurrence of great gerbils in the survey site

The great gerbil (Rhombomys opimus), a pest rodent distributed in Central
Asia, currently has the largest distribution area of all pest rodents in
China. R. opimus affects an activity on the environment for two main
reasons. On the one hand, R. opimus consumes desert vegetation to such an
extent that the vegetation loses water and dies, while its burrowing
behaviors significantly decrease surface plant coverage and aggravate
regional desertification. On the other hand, R. opimus is the main host of
rat plague, leishmaniasis (Leishmania major), and the Karimabad virus,
which pose notable threats to human health. This dataset provides
essential monitoring information on the Great Gerbil (Rhombomys opimus)
across 46 monitoring sites in Northwest China from 2020 to 2022. It
includes data on local vegetation, climate, and the degree of damage
observed. The study sites cover four provinces in northwestern China,
i.e., the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Gansu Province, Ningxia Hui
Autonomous Region, and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (36°58’N to
47°71’N and 82°56’E to 108°66’E). Monitoring records for the past several
years have confirmed that these areas are the main active areas of R.
opimus in China. The study area includes a variety of suitable habitats
(e.g., steppe, Gobi, and desert) for R. opimus. These habitats mainly have
temperate desert and steppe continental climates, with scarce rain, very
dry conditions, strong solar radiation, high temperatures, and vigorous
evaporation.  Within the study area, we selected 46 1-ha sample
plots to conduct surveys of the activity levels of R. opimus. All plots
were confirmed to have recorded occurrences of R. opimus in 2019, and each
plot was spaced at least 100 km2 apart, positioned as far away as possible
from human settlements. This arrangement was intended to effectively
represent the vegetation and environmental conditions of various R. opimus
occurrence areas in China. During the trial period, no artificial
disturbances, such as hand trapping or the release of poisonous baits,
occurred in these 46 sample plots during the fall (September-November in
the Northern Hemisphere) each year from 2020 to 2022. Rodent traps were
constructed from medium-sized board clips (8 cm × 15 cm), with every 25
traps arranged in a straight line, spaced 5 m apart, and with a row
spacing of 20 m, resulting in a total of 100 traps arranged in 4 rows side
by side. The traps were collected after 24 hours of placement, and only
the number of captured R. opimus individuals was recorded, without
counting other rodent species; any loss of traps was considered an
uncaptured rodent. Additionally, damaged plants were randomly selected
from 100 shrubs within the sample plots, and only the number of plants
damaged by R. opimus was recorded.