Download or read book Vegetative Relationships Found in Gopher Tortoise Habitat and the Potential Effects of Regulatory Tortoise Management on Wood Availability written by Stacy Lynn Kinard and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Masters Abstracts International written by and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 1000 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
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 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 Vegetative Characteristics of Gopher Tortoise gopherus Polyphemus Habitat on the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge written by Stephen E. Barlow and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ABSTRACT: Previous land use practices on the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge altered natural fire conditions resulting in habitat degradation, especially within the high pine areas, allowing succession to begin shifting these habitats to mesic hammocks. In addition, many pine flatwoods sites exist as densely planted slash pine plantations, which have been relegated to an infrequent winter fire regime, leading to a shrub level monoculture of gallberry (Ilex glabra) and saw palmetto (Serenoa repens).
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 The Gopher Tortoise written by Ray E. Ashton and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-08-28 with total page 73 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 Burrow and Habitat Relationships of the Gopher Tortoise in Coastal Scrub and Slash Pine Flatwoods on Merritt Island Florida written by and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Effects of Gopher Tortoise Gopherus Polyphemus Translocation on Movements Reproductive Activity and Body Condition of Resident and Translocated Individuals in Central Florida written by Susannah Christina Riedl and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ABSTRACT: Human-caused destruction of xeric habitats in Florida that support gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus Daudin) is occurring at a rapid rate. One conservation strategy that has been used for numerous taxa is translocation. The effects of translocation on the health, reproductive activity, and movements of translocated and resident telemetered individuals was evaluated for a population of gopher tortoises in central-Florida from 2001 to 2004. Only one of the 13 individuals released left the site during the study. The home range estimates of resident individuals were not significantly different before and after the release of the translocated individuals on the site, and all mean home ranges fit within the range of estimates reported in the literature for natural populations of gopher tortoises. Habitat use of several individual resident gopher tortoises was significantly different after the translocation events. The degree that the home ranges of the residents were overlapped by other individuals in the study was not significantly different. The spatial locations of the home ranges of resident and translocated individuals were significantly different. There was evidence of reproduction for both resident and translocated females a year after the release of the translocates. The body condition of the resident individuals was higher at the end of the study relative to the start, although this may be explained by other factors. This study illustrates some of the problems associated with studies designed to assess translocation success, namely the lack adequate baseline data for the population and the challenge of balancing the sample sizes necessary for acceptable statistical power with the mechanics of translocation. The results of this study suggest that translocation is a potentially useful conservation strategy, although there are other potential consequences of translocation that need to be considered prior to its implementation.
Download or read book Gopher Tortoises written by Christopher Blomquist and published by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. This book was released on 2003-12-15 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meet natures little bulldozer. Gopher tortoises specially designed front legs allow them to dig deep into the ground, creating homes for themselves and for dozens of other species that might not survive without them. These tortoises do immeasurable good to their habitat by sifting soil and moving minerals to the surface. They also help to spread seeds so that new plants can grow. As they read, kids will learn to appreciate this quiet, helpful creature.
Download or read book Desert Tortoise Habitat Management on the Public Lands written by and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Gopher Tortoise written by Gopher Tortoise Council. Meeting and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Environmental Effects on Gopher Tortoise Gopherus Polyphemus Burrows written by Ron Christian Sambeli and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) is a keystone species that provides a habitat for hundreds of other animal species. While environmental temperatures may fluctuate, gopher tortoise burrows maintain a fairly constant temperature. This study examines data collected from 50 burrows found in Abacoa Jupiter Greenway range VIa. Variables considered when analyzing the data include weather conditions, burrow location, and whether the temperature was measured from the air, the burrow's apron, or from within the burrow. The results were compared to previous research conducted on gopher tortoises.
Download or read book Gopher Tortoise Permitting Guidelines Gopherus Polyphemus written by and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This permit system has been designed to help accomplish all four objectives of the Gopher Tortoise Management Plan by providing incentives to landowners to manage their habitat for gopher tortoises, tortoise commensals, and other native wildlife species; providing incentives to responsibly relocate and restock tortoises to protected, managed lands rather than unprotected sites; providing a new permitting system that does not allow entombment of tortoises; and providing a permitting system with regulation and enforcement sufficient to ensure compliance with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) guidelines and rules.
Download or read book Gopher Tortoises in the Anthropocene written by Weston Curtis Thompson and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gopher tortoises are ecosystem engineers whose burrows provide habitat to >350 species. Prescribed fire is used to manage tortoise habitat, but fire timing is mostly restricted to the vegetative dormant season. Restricted fire timing in combination with white-tailed deer competition may negatively affect tortoises. To address these concerns, we quantified these species’ dietary overlap and conducted a field experiment to examine impacts of fire phenology on plants and animals. Although tortoises and deer consumed ~75% of the same plants, their diets were statistically dissimilar. Fire altered plant community composition and increased foliar crude protein and phosphorus while decreasing calcium. Deer detections were unaffected, but tortoises were detected more in fire treatment plots. We simultaneously monitored burrow and surface temperatures and found burrows provide thermal refuge. Our data suggests that fire timing affects plants in ways that can affect gopher tortoises, and burrows may mitigate some negative impacts of climate change.
Download or read book Desert Tortoise Habitat Management written by and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Gus the Gopher Tortoise A Tortoise Tells His Story written by Thomas Kibalo and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-03-20 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a children's book about Gus a Gopher tortoise. In this book Gus shares his life and story.The book contains custom art illustrations to help Gus in his discussions. Gus lives in a burrow located in sand dunes on the coast of Florida. He describes in first person how Gopher tortoises live and eat, and how they provide shelter to other creatures on the dunes.Gopher tortoises are recognized as a keystone species, in that their presence and activities are essential to the dunes ecology, and the well being of different animals in that habitat. Gus will introduced us to some of these animals. Gopher tortoises are some of the oldest living land species here in Florida and are now threatened. The threat comes mainly from humans that are competing with Gopher tortoises for their habitat.Gus lets us know how we can help.The book also describes conservation actions underway to help preserve the Gopher Tortoise population. Proceeds from sales of this book will go to the Friends of the Marine Science Center to support that center in their tortoise rescue efforts
