ABSTRACT
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is one of the major plague foci in China. Himalayan marmot (hereinafter referred to as the marmot) is the main host animals of the foci. Effective identification and monitoring of its habitat in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is important for active prevention and effective control of the marmot plague epidemic. Spatial information technology is an important means for rapid identification and effective monitoring of marmot. This review analyzed the factors that affect the distribution patterns of marmot habitat, including topographical features, soil properties, vegetation types and cover, climatic conditions and human activities, and reviewed and summarized the progress and shortcomings of relevant research on identifying and monitoring marmot habitat based on spatial information technologies such as remote sensing and geographic information system. Meanwhile, combined with the emerging low-altitude remote sensing, crowdsource data acquisition, machine learning and other big data mining methods, from the perspective of multi-source data, integration of emerging technologies and comprehensive evaluation system, the new ideas of using spatial information technology to quickly identify and effectively monitor the habitat of marmot, was discussed. It is expected to provide technical support for prediction and effective control of marmot plague in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau under the background of changing global climate and increasing human activities.