From path to Marmot burrows
Influence of human-made paths on usages of Marmota marmota burrows
Authors:
Jessica Arigbabu, Mathematisch - Naturwissenschaftliches Gymnasium Rämibühl, Zürich,
Switzerland
Hanna Blom, Gullmarsgymnasiet, Lysekil, Sweden
Ana Pinto, Colégio Luso-Francês, Oporto, Portugal
Jil Mina Schranz, Collegio Papio, Ascona, Switzerland
Tutor:
Claudia Baumberger
Abstract
In the research human disturbance on marmots has been studied.
There for the question “Does the percentage of used burrows increases by the distance from the path?”, has been asked. The hypothesis was the percentage of used burrows increases by distance
from the path. To detected whether a burrow has been used or not
the burrows were covered with plants and the distance to the path
has been measured. The research has been done once at three different locations [place 1 (Buffalora); place 2 (Döss Radond); place 3
(Mots)]. The hypothesis couldn’t be proofed true. The conclusion of
this research is: Marmots can adapt to low-levels of human activity.
It also depends on the type of disturbance. It has to be noticed
though that it isn’t possible to make an accurate statement. In the
future more research could be done on the type of human disturbance on marmots and how it effects them.
1. Introduction
Humans have a huge impact on the animals and habitat around the globe. With climate
change, deforestation, population growth, poaching or other factors animals lose their natural
habitats. This is the reason why we decided to do a project on the influence of human disturbance on marmots.
The Alpine marmot (Marmota marmota) is an alpine mammal. The species belongs to the
family of rodents and are adapted to cold climates. It’s fantastic how the alpine marmots are
able to live where there is limited vegetation. Their geographic range is 400-500 m above the
forest line and they mainly live at alpine meadow. Its impressive how they can dig their burrows in gravelly ground mainly between 1400 up to 2700 above sea level (Aulagnier et al.
2008). The Alpine marmots mainly live in their underground burrow, which is passed down
through many generations of a single family. In these burrows the tunnels can be 10 m long
which lead to the main room called a den, where the whole family hibernates during winter
months. You could recognize the alpine marmot in their plump and sturdy silhouette. Fur colour varies from dark grey to reddish yellow. Differently from other species the alpine marmot
has a darker head. They live in colonies and during the day they are mostly active between
07.00 to 11.00 and from 14.00 to 19.00 (Müller 1986). Alpine marmots also have a social
system where one individual sits and looks around as if on "guard-duty". If any enemies spotted by the guard, it will warn the colony with a high-pitched whistle. Although alpine marmots
are friendly within their families, the family is everything. The female in the family take care of
her youngers until the age of two. The family can become hostile when a stranger enters
their territory. The female is particularly violent when it comes to guarding her territory
(IWRW, 2016).
1.2 Purpose and hypothesis
The aim of this work is to estimate the effect of hiking paths on the number of used holes by
the alpine marmot. So the question is:
Does the percentage of used holes decrease by the distance from the path?
Our hypothesis is that the Alpine marmots rather use the borrows further away from paths.
2.Methods and material
2.1 Research area
Place 1
Place 3
Place 2
0
1
2
3km
Scala 1: 100,000
Stampato il 30.06.2016 21:48
https://s.geo.admin.ch/6cce35c697
The study area is in the Val
Müstair canton of Grisons in
Switzerland (figure 1.) Our
study lasted from 27th to the
29th of June, each day we
went to a new location. Location one is positioned at Buffalora. The area has a regularly used hiking path in the
middle and surrounds a
house. There’s a part that
goes up to the mountain and
the another one is quite flat
and near the forest line (figure. 2). Location 2 is positioned in Döss Radond in the
Val Mora. It’s located in a
huge valley, and this area is
a green large meadow. Our
border is a path which is used
from bikers. On one side
there is a stream and on the
other side a hill (figure 3) Location 3 is located in Mots between Buffalora and Val
Mora. This area is very steep
and rocky. There is a little
path used by hunters mostly
(figure 4).
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Figure 1. An overview of our research area
Place 2
Place 1
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20
40
60m
0
10
20
30m
Scala 1: 1,000
Stampato il 30.06.2016 18:10
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Scala
1: Spot
2,500
© CNES,
Image, swisstopo, NPOC,
Stampatopublic.geo.admin.ch
il 30.06.2016 18:04
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www.geo.admin.ch è una piattaforma pubblica accessibile per la ricerca di geo-informazioni, i dati e servizi.
Responsabilità: Nonostante si presti grande attenzione all’esattezza delle informazioni pubblicate su questo sito, le autorità federali declinano ogni responsabilità per la fedeltà, l’esattezza, l’attualità, l’affidabilità
admin.ch è una piattaforma pubblica accessibile per la ricerca di geo-informazioni, i dati e servizi.
completezza di tali informazioni. Diritti d’autore: autorità della Confederazione Svizzera, anno. http://www.disclaimer.admin.ch/basi_legali.html
Attenzione:
abilità: Nonostante si presti grande attenzione all’esattezza delle informazioni pubblicate su questo sito, le autorità federali declinano ogni responsabilità per la fedeltà, l’esattezza, l’attualità, l’affidabilità
e laquesti dati provengono da terze parti. La loro disponibilità è soggetta al provider esterno. I termini e le condizioni dei rispettivi proprietari dei dati devono essere rispettate.
zza di tali informazioni. Diritti d’autore: autorità della Confederazione Svizzera, anno. http://www.disclaimer.admin.ch/basi_legali.html
e: questi dati provengono da terze parti. La loro disponibilità è soggetta al provider esterno. I termini e le condizioni dei rispettivi proprietari dei dati devono essere rispettate.
Figure 2. Buffalora the coordinate is 816`038,168`8119 and the altitude 2145
masl.
Figure 3. Döss Radond in the Val Mora the coordinate is
823`132,161`641 and the altitude 2205 masl
Place 3
0
5
10
15m
Scala 1: 500
Stampato il 30.06.2016 22:23
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© CNES, Spot Image, swisstopo, NPOC,
public.geo.admin.ch
www.geo.admin.ch è una piattaforma pubblica accessibile per la ricerca di geo-informazioni, i dati e servizi.
Responsabilità: Nonostante si presti grande attenzione all’esattezza delle informazioni pubblicate su questo sito, le autorità federali declinano ogni responsabilità per la fedeltà, l’esattezza, l’attualità, l’affidabilità e la
completezza di tali informazioni. Diritti d’autore: autorità della Confederazione Svizzera, anno. http://www.disclaimer.admin.ch/basi_legali.html
Attenzione: questi dati provengono da terze parti. La loro disponibilità è soggetta al provider esterno. I termini e le condizioni dei rispettivi proprietari dei dati devono essere rispettate.
Figure 4. Mots the coordinate is 816`109,165`514 and the altitude 2364 masl
2.1 Scientific technique
Preparations
The first preparation is to collect grass or plants that are long enough to cover up the burrows. When we arrived to the different locations we observed the alpine marmots with our
binoculars to have a clue where there inhabit. When we got there they were in their time of
activity, that is from 07.00 till 11.00 and we got used to how they act. To measure the area of
our study we started to measure our step length with a help of a rope and counted the average of our steps witch was 30 meters approximately 25 steps. We also prepared a table for
the afternoon to document which burrows will be used or not.
Study
The number of used burrows was estimated by this technique: At 12.00 we started to cover
up the openings of burrows at the location, we used plants that were long and flexible
enough for the marmots to get in or out of the burrows (figure 5). We walked 30 meters and
put a mark on the ground. The holes in the zone were than located and a map was drawn
(figure 7,8,9). We covered up the holes and took photographs. With that technique the burrows were easily found again. At 16.00 we went back to the area again to analyse if the burrows were used or not used. To make a full accounting we used a prepared table to document the number of used or not used burrows.
Figure 5. example of a covered burrow
Figure 6. An alpine marmot observed
through scope
Figure 7. graphic map of the area we researched the first day
(Buffalora). The red dots are representing the used burrows
and the blue dots represents not used burrows.
Figure 8. graphic map of second place (Döss Radond). The red dots are representing
the used burrows and the blue dots represents not used burrows.
Figure 9. graphic map of second place (Mots). The red dots are representing the used burrows and the blue dots represents not
used burrows.
3. Results
In the tables the collected data can be seen categorised by location. At each place a different
amount of burrows has been detected.
table 1. collected data from place 1 categorised into used and not used
used
not used
Place 1 (Buffalora)
0-30m
30-60m
2
2
23
8
60-90m
2
9
table 2. collected data from place 2 categorised into used and not used
Place 2 (Döss Radond)
0-30m
30-60m
60-90m
used
5
6
10
not used
8
12
14
table 3. collected data from place 3 categorised into used and not used
Place 3 (Mots)
used
not used
0-30m
0
6
30-60m
0
11
60-90m
4
10
In the figures 8, 9 and 10 the percentage of used burrows for each place can be seen. At
place 1 (Buffalora) the highest percentage of used burrows were in the range of 30-60 meters. Whereas at place 2 (Döss Radond) the percentage over all doesn’t varied a lot. They
were only used burrows detected in a range of 60-90m at place 3 (Mots). Summarised it can
be said that at the different locations different patterns of used burrows have been detected.
Place 2 (Döss Radond)
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
percentage (%)
percentage (%)
Place 1 (Buffalora)
20
18
30-60m
60-90m
8
0-30m
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
33
0-30m
Figure 8. percentage of used holes in each zone at place 1
60-90m
Figure 9. percentage of used holes in each zone at place 2
Place 3 (Mots)
percentage (%)
30-60m
distance from path
distance from path
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
42
38
29
0
0-30m
0
30-60m
60-90m
distance from path
Figure 10. percentage of used holes in each zone at place 3
4. Discussion
Due to our data the hypothesis, the percentage of used burrows increases by distance from
the path, can’t be verified. A reason why the pattern of used burrows was differently, was
probably the different activity levels on the path. At place 1 (Buffalora) many hikers and bikers pasted by the marmot colony. There for the percentage of used burrows very close to the
path was relatively low. Further away from the path the marmots used a higher percentage of
their burrows. On the other hand, at place 2 (Döss Radond) not many humans or vehicle
pasted by. Therefore, the marmots used the burrows close to the path as much as further
away. As we observed in the morning the marmots regularly crossed the path. This couldn’t
be seen at the other locations. Place 3 (Mots) was completely different from place 1 and 2. It
was an area, which doesn’t seem to be much disturbed by humans. There was only a small
path made probably by hunters. Marmots seemed to have their burrows far away from the
path. They were also extremely shy and could be easily disturbed. At this place no marmots
could be observed. Interestingly the colony in the Val Mora seems to be the biggest of the
three, even though the colony at Mots is the least disturbed. Our conclusion from the research is that marmots can adapt to low-levels of human activity. Furthermore, it deepens on
the type of human disturbance. It need to be considerate that we studied each place only for
one day. They aren’t enough data to make accurate statements. More research would have
to be done for making more precise conclusions.
5. Acknowledgement
We would like to thank the national organization Schweizer Jugend forscht to arranged this
international wildlife research week. We also want to thank our supervisor Claudia Baumberger for all the help at the field work and interesting tips from all the guides (Jonas, Irene
and Hans). We thank for the permission, driving by car in the Val Mora, of Comün da Val
Müstair. Furthermore, we want to thank Biosfera for providing a working space. We’ll also
like to thank our national organization Fundacao da Juventude de Portugal and the Swedish
Federation of young scientists.
5. Literature / References
-
Aulagnier S. Haffner P.Mitchell-Jones A J.Moutou F.Zima J.Mammals. of Europe,
north Africa and the middle east.A&C Black Publishers Ltd.2009
Muller Jurg. Das Murmeltier. Destina Verlag, Disentis.1986
IWRW, 2016 Learning experience at International Wildlife Research Week