Based on the concept and practice of grassland livestock equivalent and “Standard sheep unit”， this paper defines the “Standard rodent unit” and explores its practical significance in grassland rodent survey， monitoring and pest control management. Referring to “Standard sheep unit” conception and the research progress of grassland rodents prevention and control in recent years， we analyzed the measurement indicators for relevant rodent standard unit and the methodologies for calculating rodents food equivalents. The definition of “Standard rodent unit” was as follows， based on the common weight of the average grassland rodents， one unit represents the daily loss caused by a 100 g rodent species consuming， cutting and storing 50 g fresh grass （about 50 % of its body weight）， which converts to 10 g of dry grass （assuming a moisture content of 20 %）. Eighty rodent units are equivalent to one standard sheep unit， with conversion of different rodents based on their weight differences. A preliminarily measurement relationship among “rodent-grass-livestock” at the level of forage intake was established， which will provide standard and basis for quantifying the foraging and food equivalents of different herbivores.

Standard rodent unit  /  Grassland rodents  /  Rodents prevention and control  /  Prevention and control threshold