MicromAsia: small mammal surveys in Western China and Kyrgyzstan (1994-2014)

This dataset corresponds to surveys carried out in Asia (Western China and Kyrgyzstan) from May 1994 to August 2014, as part of Patrick Giraudoux and his crew's research expeditions. It includes:

• Traplines set up and small mammal captured. The corresponding collection of skulls, specimens and tissues has been donated to the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris since the 22nd of November 2022.
• Activity index transect walked to provide abundance estimates over a larger range than possible using trapping methods
• Miscellaneous supplementary files and trapline photos.

Main files

Traplines.txt
This file is a table that describes the 787 traplines or trap clusters or circumstances by which small mammal specimens have been captured. Some traplines can have  no capture. This is a point to consider when trapping success is computed joining the trapline table to the capture table. Those two tables can be joined using the field 'idLine'. For more details about sampling design, trap types, distance between two traps, etc. please refer to the articles published using those data (see references on this web page).

• nameStudysite, name of the survey site
• country, country ISO code
• countryName, country name
• province, province name
• idLine, trapline ID code: digits #1-2 location ID, digits #3-4 year, digits  #5-6 month, digits #7-8 line number. The two latter digits can be coded on numbers 01, 02, 03... or on letters AA, AB, AC,...
• sLongitude, longitude of the trapline beginning (for surveys carried out before 1998 included, GPS receivers were not available: geographical coordinates are those of the nearest village, whose name is given in the field 'nameStudysite', and the position of trapline is given relative to this village (see field 'emplacementMethod' = CoordCloserVillage and 'distVillage' and 'azimuthVillage')
• sLatitude, latitude of the trapline beginning (for surveys carried out before 1998 included, GPS receivers were not available: geographical coordinates are those of the nearest village, whose name is given in the field 'nameStudysite', and the position of trapline is given relative to this village (see field 'emplacementMethod' = CoordCloserVillage and 'distVillage' and 'azimuthVillage')
• eLongitude, longitude of the trapline end
• eLatitude, latitude of the trapline beginning
• cLongitude, longitude of the trapline centroid (for surveys carried out before 1998 included, GPS receivers were not available: geographical coordinates are those of the nearest village, whose name is given in the field 'nameStudysite', and the position of trapline is given relative to this village (see field 'emplacementMethod' = CoordCloserVillage and 'distVillage' and 'azimuthVillage')
• cLatitude, latitude of the trapline beginning (for surveys carried out before 1998 included, GPS receivers were not available: geographical coordinates are those of the nearest village, whose name is given in the field 'nameStudysite', and the position of trapline is given relative to this village (see field 'emplacementMethod' = CoordCloserVillage and 'distVillage' and 'azimuthVillage')
• altitude, altitude
• emplacementMethod, way location is recorded: CoordCloserVillage, distance and direction of the nearest village (used on a time when GPS receivers were nor available); GPS, geographical coordinates; unknown
• distVillage, distance to the nearest village (in m)
• azimuthVillage, bearing direction to the nearest village
• habitat, habitat description
• campagneObs, month and year of the survey
• campagneObsBegin, date of the beginning of the survey
• campagneObsEnd, date of the end of the survey
• traptype, trap type (see e.g. Traptypes.pdf for some  illustrations):
  • INRA, INRA trap
  • sbbt, small break back trap
  • apporté, brought by people
  • apporté (?), possibly brought by people
  • BBBT, big break back trap
  • sSherman, small Sherman trap
  • BSHERMAN, big Sherman trap
  • CAGE, cage trape
  • tong, tong trap
  • attrapé à la main, caught by hand
  • road, found dead along a road
  • trouvés, found
  • assommoir, deadfall trap
  • tong trap, tong trap
  • bbbt, small break back trap
  • child, brought by a child
  • collet, snare
  • BBBT ou jaw, big break back trap or jaw trap
  • jaw, jaw trap
• remarks, remarks
• nbControlNights, number of control nights (traps were set up during the day and controlled every morning)
• nbTrapsInstal1, number of traps set up
• nbTrapsRecov1, number of traps recovered on first control
• nbTrapsRecov2, number of traps recovered on control #2
• nbTrapsRecov3, number of traps recovered on control #3
• nbTrapsRecov4, number of traps recovered on control #4
• nbTrapsRecov5, number of traps recovered on control #5

Captures.txt

This file is a table that describes the 2178 animals captured.  As a  table, it can be joined to the trapline table using the field 'idLine'

• country, country ISO code
• idCapture, Capture ID code: digits #1-8 trapline ID, see field 'idLine' of Traplines.txt for details, digits #9-10 capture ID in the trapline
• numControlNight, number of the control night
• dateControlNight, date of the control night
• labCode, code for the laboratory
• speciesField, species as identified in the field; for abbreviations see SpeciesNames.txt
• species, species as confirmed in the lab
• sex, M male; F female.
• reproducing T true; F False
• remarks
• HeadBodyLength, head-body length
• UterusDiameter (mm)
• WholeBodyWetmass, body mass (g)
• EarLength (mm)
• ToesForelegNb, number of toes (foreleg)
• ToesHindlegNb, number of toes (hintleg)
• ClawLength (mm)
• TailLength (mm)
• TailQuiffLength (mm)
• HindFootLength (mm)
• CristallineLensNb, number of crystalline lens weighed (sometimes only one could be taken)
• CristallineLensDrymass, dry mass of the crystalline lens weighed (one or two together according to 'CristallineLensNb'
• TesticleLength (mm)
• TesticleWidth (mm)
• SeminalVesicleLength (mm)
• SeminalVesicleWidth (mm)
• PlacentaScarsNb, number of placental scares
• EmbryosNb, number of embryos
• idLine, ID of the trapline where the animal was caught

Parasites.txt

Livers and general cavity were generally examined visually to identify macroparasites such as cestode kysts or nematodes with a particular attention for Echinococcus multilocularis metacestodes. Additionnal informations on parasites might have been reported in the field 'remarks' of Captures.txt. As a  table, it can be joined to the capture table using the field 'idCapture'

• country, country ISO code
• idCapture, Capture ID code see field idCapture of Captures.txt
• species, parasite species name: "?" or  "99" = unknown (generally a small unidentifiable white dot);  "CH" =  Capillaria hepatica  (sometimes in full "Capillaria hepatica"); "Em"  =  Echinococcus multilocularis (sometimes in full "Echinococcus multilocularis");   "Taenia" ;  "Taenia crassiceps"; "Taenia taeniformis"
• number

Transects.zip

Transects were used to sample open habitats such as grassland, arable fields etc., for species that leave conspicuous activity indices on the ground surface, in order to provide abundance estimates over a larger range than possible using trapping methods. For each transect, 10 paces intervals were surveyed with activity indicators identifiable to species or genus level (including foraging corridors, ground holes, earth tumuli and small mammal faeces) recorded. Except for Sary Mogol, Kyrgyzstan, where transect were walked on twenty 10-paces intervals centred on the nodes of a grid, transect routes were selected opportunistically under accessibility constraints in order to cross the largest portion of each habitat patch. They were recorded via Global Positioning System receivers with an approximate 15 m accuracy. The zip file includes the followings:

• Transect file descriptions.rtf, the description of the fields of each transect table
• Transects_Honlong_2007_09.txt, transects walked near HongLong, China, in September 2007
• Transects_Narati_2006_09.txt, transects walked near Narati, China, in September 2006
• Transects_Ningxia_2003_09.txt, transects walked in Ningxia, China, in September 2003
• Transects_SaryMoghul_2012_2014.txt, transects walked near Sary Moghul, Kyrgyzstan, in May 2012 and August 2014
• Transects_Serxu_2002_07.txt, transects walked near Serxu, China, in July 2002
• Transects_Tuotuohe_2006_07.txt, transects walked on the way from Xining to Tuotuo He, China, in July 2006

Supplementary files

1MapStudyAreas.jpg Map of the main areas surveyed

DNA_sequencing.txt table of the specimens whose DNA has been sequenced

• ind_number, Capture ID code: see field 'idCapture' in Captures.txt
• ID_lab, lab identification label
• Species_DNA, species as identified by DNA sequencing
• laboratory, people and/or lab who performed the analysis
• ID morphometry/karyotype, species as identified by morphology + karyotype

Photos_traplines.zip Photos of traplines and habitats for the following surveys

• Honglong, CN, September 2007
• Maerkang, CN, September 2005
• Narati, CN, September 2006
• Ningxia, CN, September 2003, July 2012
• Rantang, CN, June 2004
• Sary Mogol, KG, April 2008
• Serxu, CN, July 2002

SpeciesNames.txt Abbreviations, latin, English, French names of species

• Code, code on 4 digits
• Nom latin, latin name
• Nom commun (Anglais), common name (English)
• Nom commun (Français), common name (French)
• Remark

Small_mammal_measurements.pdf Method for small mammal sampling and measurements.

TrapLocationCodes.txt Codes for the location of traplines

• Location, location name
• Symbol, symbol (first two digits of idLine in Traplines.txt
• Province, province name
• Trapping, remarks about sampling design

Traptypes.pdf  Samples of small and big break back traps, tong trap and INRA trap.