Study On Gas Change In Burrow Of Plateau Zokor

Plateau Zokor（Myospalax baileyi） is a kind of subterranean mammals in common, mainly live in an underground tunnel of high altitude, tunnel and its environmental characteristics in a dark, high carbon dioxide, low methane, low carbon monoxide, high nitrous oxide, high humidity and low oxygen. These unique environmental factors affect not only the behaviour and lifestyles of subterranean rodents, but also affect their metabolism in the underground burrow. Underground rodents formed a series of environment adaptation in the long evolutionary process, mainly in the low oxygen and high carbon dioxide, temperature, energy and food shortages and so on.Therefore,there is a very close relationship between the underground rodents and their microenvironment of burrow,and the research on environment of underground burrow is also more complex. Taking zokor burrows as object of study, the changes of gases, including CO₂, CH₄, CO, N₂O, O₂ and moiture content in burrow, were invetigated in different altitude site at different growing seasons in apinea meadow of Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Gannan, Gansu Province. The results indicated htat:1. Various kinds of gases in burrow varied differently with the season in different altitude site. CO₂ content in three sites all increased from May to Sep. The changes of CO and N₂O were similar to that of CO₂. CH₄ content, however, changed differently: decreased from germination stage to growth-stop stage. O₂ content in burrows was higher in May and Sep, but lower in vigorously growing stage（Jul）. The moisture content was heigher in May than in Jul and Sep at Hezuo and Arzi, but heigher in Jul at Gahai.2. CO₂ content of active burrows was significant heigher than that of abandoned burrows at three sites in different seasons. CO₂ content in abandoned burrows was heigher than that of ground. At the same time, CO₂ content of active burrows at three sites was all increased from May to Sep, while that of abandoned burrows and ground remain stable in different seasons. CH₄ content of ground was heigher htan that of active burrows and abandoned burrows. CO content showed no regularity changes in all sited and seasons. N₂O content showed a tendence of active burrwos > abandoned burrows > ground. O₂ content at three sits and different seasons all ranged as follow: active burrows < abandoned burrows < ground. Moisture content in three sites was ranged as active burrows > abandoned burrows > ground, and showed a similar changes in different esasons.3. The variation trend of all gases chaned different as the increasing of altitude. CO₂ content increased with the rise of altitude, and showed a positive correlation between them. Similarly, there was a positive correlation between CH₄ content and altitude in different seasons. There were no significant relationship between CO, N₂O content and altitude. There was a negative relationship between O₂ content and altitude in three seasons. Moisture content, however, showed a positive correlation with altitude in different seasons.4. CO₂ content of active burrow at three altitude sites increased from May to Sep. There was significant positive relationship between CO₂ content and growing seasons. CH₄ content at three sites all declined from May to Sep, and showed a negative correlation. There were no clear correlations between CO, N₂O content and growing seaseons. There existed a unimodal curves between O₂ content and growing seasons. Moisture content at three sites reduced continuously from May to Sep, and showed a negative relashionship.