Abstract: The Phodopus roborovskii individuals on Hunshandake sandy land of Inner Mongolia were trapped monthly, and the contents in their cheek pouch and stomach were analyzed to study the food consumption and feeding characters of P. roborovskii on the sandy land. The results showed that plant seeds were the main food of P. roborovskii, contributing more than 85% of the food consumption. P. roborovskii also took insects, plant leaves and stems as its food. The daily food consumption of P. roborovskii was highly correlated with its body weight, and the per unit body weight of juvenile P. roborovskii consumed more food than that of the adult. The functional relationship of daily food consumption (D) and body mass (M) could be expressed by D=1.422×lnM-1.780. Based on the population structure of P. roborovskii, its daily food consumption was calculated as about 2 g of plant seeds.

Key words: Soil, Phosphorus, Spatial variability, Geostatistics, Field scale