Abstract:

Aims: The Himalayan marmot (Marmota himalayana) is a burrowing rodent endemic to the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. Accurately delineating its family territories holds both significant ecological value and practical importance for precision plague prevention and control. However, a rapid and quantifiable model for delineating family territory boundaries based on the burrow system has yet to be established.  

Methods: This study conducted field investigations in the high-altitude meadow of Duoma Village, Ruoergai County, and constructed a Voronoi diagram model based on the coordinates of 37 main burrows. The 701 temporary holes observed (observation group) were compared and verified with the number of temporary holes predicted within each polygon by the model (model group), and the validity of the model was evaluated using paired t-test, linear regression, and z-value method. 

Results: There was no significant statistical difference between the observation group and the model group (P > 0.05), and had a significant positive correlation (R² = 0.88, P < 0.01) between the two groups, with the overall validity of the model reaching over 95%. The model errors were mainly concentrated near the boundaries of the Voronoi diagram in the high-density central area of the study site, which was related to the elastic characteristics of the territory boundaries of the Himalayan marmot under dense competition conditions, while the fitting effect was better in the edge areas. 

Conclusion: We confirmed that the Voronoi diagram model based on the coordinates of main burrows can effectively delineate the family territory of the Himalayan marmot, and its “nearest-neighbor exclusive” principle basically conforms to the spatial utilization strategy of the species “core nest–peripheral activity area”. This study provided a simple and quantifiable technical solution for rapid assessment of the distribution of rodent territories based on the burrow system and had clear application value in the monitoring of marmot populations and targeted plague prevention and control.

Key words: Himalayan marmot, territory, Voronoi diagram, plague