The rodents were investigated with trap-day method in Alashan Desert of Inner Mongolia from August to September 1998 and 1999. Sixty-five sites were selected according to conditions of vegetation, landform, topography and soil. The area of the site was 10 ha in which 400-500 traps were arranged. There were 1019 samples captured with 31 469 effective trap-days in all sites. The results showed that Meriones meridianus was a typical dominant species and Euchoreutes naso was one of representative rodents in Alashan Desert. The Alashan Desert was a new distribution region of Salpingotus crassicauda in China. Therefore, geographical distribution of the three rodents was analyzed with Map-info Professional 6.5 software of GIS (Geographical Information System). The results showed that the distribution maps of the three rodents, which were obtained on the basis of GIS, not only told the information of prophetical distribution of the three rodents in Alashan Desert, but also reported information of the rodents’ distribution affected by habitat change, which can not be obtained by traditional site-distribution ways. This result can be used as scientific foundation for perfecting research design and monitoring harmful rodents in future.
