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

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Gopherus polyphemus | Gopher Tortoise