Camera Trap Dataset of Rodents and Sympatric Vertebrates in the Desert Steppe of Qilian Mountains China.

Qilian Mountains National Park in northwestern China encompasses ecologically sensitive desert steppe ecosystems increasingly affected by rodent population outbreaks-particularly of Rhombomys opimus and Meriones meridianus. In response, large-scale chemical rodent control campaigns have been implemented, raising concerns about unintended effects on non-target predators and overall biodiversity. To inform ecologically sound pest management and support long-term biodiversity monitoring, we deployed 22 infrared-triggered camera traps representative desert steppe habitats within the park from December 2020 to January 2022, accumulating 553,814 images over 8,052 trap-days. After two rounds of expert validation, 28,881 images containing clearly identifiable wildlife were retained, documenting 26 vertebrate species across Mammalia, Aves, and Reptilia. The dataset includes comprehensive metadata and 3,828 temporally independent detection events, enabling analyses of species distributions, predator-prey interactions, diel activity rhythms, and automated wildlife recognition. This openly accessible resource fills a critical data gap for biodiversity assessment in chemically managed drylands and provides a valuable foundation for conservation planning in Qilian Mountains National Park.