Introductory
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Gopherus polyphemus | Gopher Tortoise 



ABBREVIATION : 
GOPO

COMMON NAMES : 
   gopher tortoise
   tortoise
   gopher


TAXONOMY : 
The currently accepted scientific name for gopher tortoise is Gopherus
polyphemus Daudin [3,23].


ORDER : 
Chelonia

CLASS : 
Reptile

FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS : 
threatened

OTHER STATUS : 
The gopher tortise is listed as a species of special
concern by the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission [24].


COMPILED BY AND DATE : 
S. A. Snyder, November 1991


LAST REVISED BY AND DATE : 
NO-ENTRY


AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION : 
Snyder, S. A. 1991. Gopherus polyphemus. In: Remainder of Citation

WILDLIFE DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Gopherus polyphemus | Gopher Tortoise 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Disjunct populations occur from extreme eastern Louisiana east through
southern Mississippi and Alabama to the Atlantic Coast, and from extreme
southern South Carolina through central and southern Georgia and Florida
[3].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
FRES12 Longleaf-slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly-shortleaf pine
FRES16 Oak-gum-cypress
FRES41 Wet grasslands


STATES : 


    
AL
    
FL
    
GA
    
LA
    
MS
    
SC




BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
   NONE


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K079  Palmetto prairie
   K080  Marl - Everglades
   K090  Live oak - sea oats
   K091  Cypress savanna
   K092  Everglades
   K115  Sand pine scrub
   K116  Subtropical pine forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
    64  Sassafras - persimmon
    69  Sand pine
    70  Longleaf pine
    71  Longleaf pine - scrub oak
    72  Southern scrub oak
    74  Cabbage palmetto
    75  Shortleaf pine
    76  Shortleaf pine - oak
    80  Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
    81  Loblolly pine
    82  Loblolly pine - hardwood
    83  Longleaf pine - slash pine
    84  Slash pine
    85  Slash pine - hardwood
    87  Sweet gum - yellow-poplar
    89  Live oak
    92  Sweetgum - willow oak


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT COMMUNITIES : 

The gopher tortoise is a resident of the pine (Pinus spp.)-oak (Quercus
spp.) communities of the southern United States.  It mostly inhabits the
xeric longleaf pine (Pinus palustris)-turkey oak (Quercus laevis)
community with a wiregrass (Aristida stricta) understory.  Other
communities include longleaf pine and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) with
bluejack oak (Quercus incana), twin oak (Q. geminata), or myrtle oak (Q.
myrtifolia) and panic grass (Panicum spp.) or smutgrass (Sporobolus
poiretii) understories [3,9,22].  The gopher tortoise also inhabits
ruderal communities (those altered by man) [3].


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

BIOLOGICAL DATA AND HABITAT REQUIREMENTS
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Gopherus polyphemus | Gopher Tortoise 



TIMING OF MAJOR LIFE HISTORY EVENTS : 
Mating season - April through June
Incubation - eggs laid shortly after mating; hatch in 102 days in 
             Georgia, 80 to 90 days in Florida, 110 days in South
             Carolina; 4 to 12 eggs laid annually; may have only
             one successful brood every 10 years
Age of Maturity - 19 to 21 years in Georgia, 10 to 15 years in
                  Florida
Lifespan - probably greater than 25 years in the wild


PREFERRED HABITAT : 
Gopher tortoises tend to dig burrows in open and sunny areas that have
patches of bare ground [3].  They inhabit dry areas where sandy,
well-drained soils persist and avoid wet, swampy areas where the water
table is less than 3 feet (1 m) below the surface.  Soils in gopher
tortoise habitats are often low in fertility but support a diversity of
grasses and forbs.  Elevations range from just above high tide to 330
feet (100 m).  Gopher tortoises inhabit seral plant communities that
have remained undisturbed for up to about 11 years.  As shade increase,
the number of tortoises decreases [3].


COVER REQUIREMENTS : 
Gopher tortoises dig burrows for hiding, nesting, and protection.  For
this, well-drained sandy soils are best.  Soils in some areas of
Louisiana are high in clay content, and burrows there tend to be much
shallower [3].  Burrows are, on average, 14 feet (4.7 m) long and 6 feet
(2 m) deep [22], but can be more than 40 feet (11 m) long and 18 feet (6
m) deep.  Depth is dependent on groundwater levels [5,8].  The
distribution of gopher tortoises is strongly correlated with soil and
vegetation types, both of which can change dramatically with an 8-inch
(20 cm) change in groundwater level [3].


FOOD HABITS : 
Gopher tortoises mainly eat grasses, leaves, fruits, and seeds, but
sometimes eat charcoal and insects [16].  Foods most frequently found in
their diets are grasses (Poaceae) and legume fruits (Fabaceae).  Other
food plants include pine needles and seeds, oak mast, persimmon
(Diospyros virgin), hawthorn (Crataegus spp.), pricklypear cactus
(Opuntia lata), chickasaw plum (Prunus augustifolia), black cherry (P.
serotina), milk-pea (Galactia spp.), yellow buttons (Balduina spp.),
aster (Chrysopsis spp), Phoebanthus spp., golden aster (Pityopsis spp.),
rattle-box (Crotalaria spp.), Chamoecrista spp., skullcap (Scutellaria
spp.), wild buckwheat (Eriogonum spp.), raspberry (Rubus spp.),
broomsedge (andropogon spp.), dogfennel, (Eupatorium compositifolium),
and wiregrass [3,8,16].


PREDATORS : 
The coachwhip snake, other snakes, fire ants (Solenopsis saevissima),
hawks (Accipiters, Buteos), raccoon (Procyon lotor), opossum (Didelphis
marsupialis), armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), skunks (Spilogale,
Mephitis), feral dog (Canis familiaris), gray fox (Urocyon
cinereoargenteus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), and man prey on gopher
tortoise eggs and young [8,13,15].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
The gopher tortoise is listed as threatened because much of its original
habitat has been developed for real-estate, agriculture, mining, and
forestry, thereby causing critical decreases in populations.  Removal of
vegetation through livestock grazing, however, may benefit tortoises by
providing bare, open areas for burrows [3].  Relocation of tortoises to
areas where they have been eradicated can be successful (i.e.
rehabiliated forest and mine lands, or areas where they have been
eradicated due to fire exclusion) [6].  The gopher tortoise is
considered a keystone species because more than 80 symbiontic species
live in and rely on its burrow for protection [5,19,20,22].  Some of
these species are rare, such as the dusky gopher frog (Rana areolata),
the pine snake (Pituophis melanoleucus), and the indigo snake
(Drymarchon corais).  By burrowing, gopher tortoises aid in returning
leached nutrients to the soil surface [8].


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

FIRE EFFECTS AND USE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Gopherus polyphemus | Gopher Tortoise 



DIRECT FIRE EFFECTS ON ANIMALS : 
No information is available on the direct effects of fire on gopher
tortoises.  Areas that do not support frequent fires build up high fuel
loads and support a more homogeneous, hotter fire, which may have a
detrimental effect on tortoises [12].
  


HABITAT RELATED FIRE EFFECTS : 
Because gopher tortoises inhabit fire-dependent southern pine
communities, fire tends to have beneficial effects on gopher tortoise
habitat.  Tortoise densities are higher in fire-adapted communities,
such as the longleaf pine-oak and sand pine (Pinus aclausa)-scrub oak
communities [3,8].

Temperatures of prescribed burns in the sandhill communities of Florida
were measured at gopher tortoise burrow entrances [12].  Areas where
fires burned annually produced mean temperatures of 96 to 125.6 degrees
Fahrenheit (36-52 deg C).  Areas where fires burned every 5 years
produced mean temperatures of 160 to 340 degrees Fahrenheit (71-171 deg
C).  Longleaf pine-turkey oak communities of Florida recovered to 50
percent ground cover 9 months after January prescribed burns [2].
Burned areas showed an increase in dog fennel and partridge pea, two
important tortoise food plants.

Mushinsky [17] concluded that periodic late May/early June burns in
Florida sandhill communities resulted in an increase in the number and
diversity of amphibians and reptiles, including gopher tortoises.  A
greater number of tortoises were found in areas burned every year, than
in those areas burned every 2 and 7 years.


FIRE USE : 
Fire can be used to maintain early seral understory communities in
southern pine ecosystems.  Fire can also be used to prepare seedbeds for
southern pine types where open, parklike stands are desirable [1,3].
Summer burning can be used to restore wiregrass, an important tortoise
food species, by encouraging seed production and reducing competition
from shrubs [7].  Wiregrass is the principal fuel in many southern pine
types, and adequate wiregrass cover is necessary for carrying the
frequent fires required to maintain these communities.


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

REFERENCES
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Gopherus polyphemus | Gopher Tortoise 



REFERENCES : 


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Related categories for Wildlife Species: Gopherus polyphemus | Gopher Tortoise