Census in marmot families. Outchet v sem’ïakh sourkov. [Dénombrement des familles de marmottes].

Résumé

All Eurasian species of marmots live in families and have a resident way of life. The most reliable index for carrying out marmot number census is "the number of families"; and not "the number of individuals" or "the number of burrows" (Mashkin, 1977). Numbers of individuals in a family changes due to the indices of birth rate, death rate, dispersion of mature animals from families and translocation of marmots between families. When calculating numbers in vast territories average indices of the number of individuals in a family should be taken into account on the basis of a great number of observations. ln what number of families should be the census carried out to obtain maximum information and to exert minimum efforts? Using tables of random numbers on the basis of the annual number census for 1982-1986 in 103 mapped bobac families the value of 30-40 families may be taken as optimum volumes for obtaining maximum information with minimum efforts