. Biology of the Heteromyidae. Heteromyidae. PANDESERTIC RODENT ECOLOGY 685. -' â¢''.-< '^^^^r'- â " , ^ Fig. 38.âThe dwarf hamster, P/?oa'opi/5 52//7gon/5, ofthe Turkestan, Chinese and MongoHan deserts, a small, quadrupedal, seed-hoarding obligate granivore. (Photo: M. Andera) west, where mean yearly rainfall may be as low as 40 mm, with some years having no rain; in the east, yearly precipitation may reach 150 mm. Vegetation over much ofthe region is sparse grass-shrub steppe, with Chenopodiaceae, Tamaricaceae, Zygophyl- laceae, Fabaceae, Polygonaceae, Convol- vulaceae and Asteraceae
. Biology of the Heteromyidae. Heteromyidae. PANDESERTIC RODENT ECOLOGY 685. -' â¢''.-< '^^^^r'- â " , ^ Fig. 38.âThe dwarf hamster, P/?oa'opi/5 52//7gon/5, ofthe Turkestan, Chinese and MongoHan deserts, a small, quadrupedal, seed-hoarding obligate granivore. (Photo: M. Andera) west, where mean yearly rainfall may be as low as 40 mm, with some years having no rain; in the east, yearly precipitation may reach 150 mm. Vegetation over much ofthe region is sparse grass-shrub steppe, with Chenopodiaceae, Tamaricaceae, Zygophyl- laceae, Fabaceae, Polygonaceae, Convol- vulaceae and Asteraceae being the predom- inant plant families. Numerous forbs and grasses are also present, including many summer ephemerals which produce impor- tant seed crops. Walter et al. (1983) present an extensive discussion of plant ecology of the Gobi Desert and its adjoining arid and semiarid areas. They note that in some of the Gobi's subunits, such as the Ala Shan and Tien Shan deserts, or in the Tarim Ba- sin (Takla Makan Desert), isolated patches of trees {Populus, Eleagnus, Haloxylon) may appear. These may be quite large in surface depressions or other areas where soil mois- ture accumulates. Faunistically, the Gobi Desert shares sev- eral elements with the Turkestan Desert (Appendix 1), although there are a number of mammal genera found in the Gobi that are endemic. Among genera (and species) shared with the western Asian deserts are the insectivores Hemiechinus and Croci- dura, the leporid Lepus, the sciurid Sper- mophilus, the cricetids Meriones, Rhom- bomys and Cricetulus, the arvicolids Microtus and Lagnrus, and the dipodids Dipus, Stylodipus, Allactaga, Cardiocran- ius, and Salpingotus. The cricetid dwarf hamster Phodopus is also shared with the Turkestan Desert and is a tiny rodent that is strongly granivorous (Nowak and Para- diso, 1983). Genera that are endemic to the Gobi and its associated deserts include the. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned pag
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