Download or read book Habitat Assessment for Gopher Tortoise Gopherus Polyphemus and Grassland Birds in South Mississippi written by Nathan Andrew Stukey and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I studied eight habitat types of south Mississippi from 2009-2010 to examine habitat conditions and faunal communities associated with the presence of gopher tortoise burrows (Gopherus polyphemus). Field methods included burrow surveys, vegetation sampling, mound counts, and point count surveys. Active tortoise burrow presence was influenced by percent coverage of bare ground, native legumes, grass-like plants, basal area, overstory canopy, and woody plants. Fire ant mound densities were influenced by percent coverage of overstory canopy cover, bare ground, grass-like vegetation, and woody plants. Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) and Bachman’s sparrow (Peucaea aestivalis) were detected more frequently in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) dominated habitats supporting gopher tortoises. My findings will be used to address the paucity of information related to gopher tortoise conservation on private and public lands and identify potential areas for inclusion in conservation initiatives supporting longleaf pine restoration or gopher tortoise conservation in the southeastern lower coastal plain.
Download or read book Evaluation of Soil and Forage Nutrient Levels in Habitats of Gopher Tortoises Gopherus Polyphemus in South Mississippi written by Bridget Nicole Hodges and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Populations of federally-listed gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) are in decline in Mississippi. Soil and forage quality may be linked to their health and recruitment. To gain a better understanding of existing soil and forage quality conditions on areas inhabited by gopher tortoises, I investigated soil chemistry parameters, forage nutrients, and plant community characteristics from 2012 to 2013. These parameters were collected on 7 soil and habitat management treatment types in uplands on public forest lands in south Mississippi. Soil sample analyses indicated that most pH levels in soils were acidic (pH
Download or read book Gopher Tortoise Gopherus Polyphemus Recovery Plan written by Wendell A. Neal and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Conservation Genetics of Threatened Gopher Tortoises Gopherus Polyphemus written by Angela Huang Getz and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Species Profile Gopher Tortoise Gopherus Polyphemus on Military Installations in the Southeastern United States written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) is the only tortoise that occurs east of the Mississippi River. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has separated the species into two main populations. The western population (southwest Mississippi and southeast Louisiana) is Federally listed as threatened; the eastern population, which occurs in southern Alabama and Georgia, extreme southwestern South Carolina, and most of Florida, is a former candidate for listing as threatened. Gopher tortoises occupy a wide range of open, upland habitats with a well-drained, deep sandy substrate, primarily longleaf pine-xerophytic oak woodlands (sandhills). They have been documented on several military installations in the Southeast. This report is one of a series of 'Species Profiles' being developed for threatened, endangered, and sensitive species inhabiting southeastern United States plant communities. The work is being conducted as part of the Department of Defense (DoD) Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP). The report is designed to supplement information provided in plant community management reports for major United States plant communities found on military installations. Information provided on the gopher tortoise includes status, life history and ecology, habitat requirements, impacts and cause of decline, management and protection, and inventory and monitoring.
Download or read book Annual Report written by Mississippi State University. Forest and Wildlife Research Center and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Gopher Tortoise Habitat Management Strategies and Options written by Gopher Tortoise Council. Meeting and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Maternal Effects and Offspring Behavior written by Aaron Lee Holbrook and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Federally threatened in Mississippi, gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) populations within the state have strongly variable recruitment and are generally in decline. Hatching success is significantly lower in Mississippi than in any other part of the species' range, and most hatchlings die within the first year. There are few refuges where survival and hatching success is high. Here I compare two populations that differ in recruitment and offspring survival for differences in corticosterone. Corticosterone is a hormone that influences energy availability and is released in elevated levels during stressful events, like living in poor quality habitat. Prolonged corticosterone elevation can impede growth and immune responses and result in early death. To assess adult stress, I utilized leukocyte profiles as they are influenced by prolonged elevation of corticosterone. A viable yolk sampling technique was used to collect yolk samples to determine levels of yolk CORT. Hatchlings were then kept in captivity for two years to observe growth rates and burrowing behavior before being released and monitored via radiotelemetry to monitor dispersal and survival. I found no differences in adult stress or egg yolk CORT between populations. This suggests adults are not excessively stressed. Survival of hatchlings did not differ between sites. Captive-reared hatchlings were larger and may have better survival than similar aged wild hatchlings. Overall, the poor survival of gopher tortoises may be more strongly linked to environmental variables such as soil structure than physiological ones. --Page ii.
Download or read book Field Assessment of Gopher Tortoise Habitat at Camp Shelby MS written by Scott Allen Tweddale and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Response of Gopher Tortoises to Habitat Manipulation by Prescribed Burning Can Forested Areas Adjacent to Training Areas Be Improved written by and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) is a terrestrial reptile that was once quite plentiful throughout the Southeastern United States from South Carolina into Louisiana. However, because of factors such as habitat loss to agriculture and urbanization, and human and animal predation, their numbers have been in decline for the past several decades. In addition to population decline throughout its range, the tortoise has maintained only a limited, precarious existence in extreme southern South Carolina and extreme eastern Louisiana. Camp Shelby, Mississippi, supports one of the largest tortoise populations within the federally listed, western range of the tortoise. However, within the military use areas, the animal shows a habitat preference for the artificially maintained training openings in the forest, placing it at greater risk for accidental injury. This report describes attempts that have been made to determine what type and degree of habitat changes will be necessary to make more suitable tortoise habitat available.
Download or read book The Gopher Tortoise written by Ray E. Ashton and published by Pineapple Press Inc. This book was released on 2004 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Full-color book for children ages 10 and up. Details the life of the gopher tortoise and how it is tied in with other animals. Also discusses how the encroachment into the gopher tortoise's habitat is affecting the environment and the tortoise.
Download or read book Gopher Tortoise written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources published guides to many threatened animals living in the state. This guide gives information about the gopher tortoise, including description, status, habitat, conservation challenges & recommendations, and measures of success.
Download or read book Determining Habitat Preferences of the Juvenile Gopher Tortoise Gopherus Polyphemus Using Spatially Modeled Vegetation on a Central Florida Sandhill written by Kristan Marie Nicole Raymond and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ABSTRACT: Public and private conservation areas are becoming increasingly important to the continued survival of the gopher tortoise, making it imperative that land managers know the specific habitat requirements of juvenile gopher tortoises because recruitment is key to species persistence. Little is currently known about environmental factors that underlie hatchling and juvenile survival and recruitment in gopher tortoise populations. Because of the short duration and distance of juvenile tortoise foraging journeys, food availability, thermoregulatory conditions, and refugia near the burrow may considerably affect juvenile growth and survival. This two-year study of a central Florida sandhill examines the spatial relationship between juvenile gopher tortoise burrows and the surrounding habitat. Gopher tortoise burrow positions, activity, and width were recorded in four complete surveys of the 4-hectare study area. Coincident with three of the burrow surveys, vegetation and structural habitat characteristics, such as forb and canopy cover, were surveyed in a uniform grid design. Vegetation cover was reclassified using habitat suitability functions (HSFs) derived from qualitative literature values and combined into habitat suitability indices (HSIs) to model the relationships between habitat variables and the likelihood of juvenile gopher tortoise presence. Chi-squared tests and spatial point pattern analysis were used to validate and identify well-forming models. In general, the best performing HSI models for the juvenile gopher tortoise were those that incorporated all three gopher tortoise life requisites in a compensatory relationship (geometric mean): thermoregulation (total high canopy, bare ground, or litter), predation (oak mid-canopy), and food (forb or wiregrass). The models could be improved by using the observed relative abundance of juvenile burrows in each vegetation cover class to modify the HSFs. These methods will help identify habitat characteristics associated with active juvenile gopher tortoise burrows that can be used by public and private land managers to improve existing tortoise habitat and to identify high-quality habitat for future preserves.
Download or read book Assessment of Resource Selection Using Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems gis for Two Vertebrates in Disparate Habitats written by Cherie A. Keller and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aerial survey data (December-March, 1991-1998) including survey tracklines and right whale locations were entered into a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for comparing whale use of SST to availability based on search effort. Using Monte Carlo techniques, mean and standard deviation for SSTs and latitudes of whale-sightings were compared to sampling distributions derived from available SSTs and latitudes. From these data, it was concluded that the North Atlantic right whale uses SSTs and latitudes non-randomly. Broad-scale habitat selection for gopher tortoises was evaluated from the 2003 Land Cover/Land Use map (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission). Based on land cover and ancillary data, potential gopher tortoise habitat was developed for northeast Florida.
Download or read book Population Genetics and Microbial Communities of the Gopher Tortoise Gopherus Polyphemus written by Daniel Lyle Gaillard and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Demography and Reproductive Biology of the Gopher Tortoise Gopherus Polyphemus in Mississippi written by Kelley Renee Smith and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Analysis of Changes in Burrow Density and Hatching Success of the Gopher Tortoise Gopherus Polyphemus in the De Soto National Forest Mississippi written by Shea Lyle Hammond and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
