GOPHER TORTOISE PROJECT
Auburn University
Craig Guyer Lab


 
 
 
 

Research Objectives

This is long term, intermittent project for the lab which started around 1988.  One of the goals of this project is to investigate effects of habitat quality on various aspects of tortoise ecology.  Much of the ancestral tortoise habitat has been altered by human use.  Understanding the relationship of habitat quality and tortoise ecology will help benefit conservation of tortoises throughout their range.  Some of the aspects we are working on include:
Study Sites
The preliminary work began at Conecuh National Forest, AL and Wade Tract Preserve, GA.  Other sites including J. W. Jones Research Center, GA; Camp Shelby, MS; Mobile County, AL; and Fort Benning, GA have been added into the mix.  Our field sites are shown below in red.  Data collection is complete for several sites while others are just beginning.


 
 
 
 
 

The Wade Tract Preserve is a privately-owned conservation easement managed by Tall Timbers Research Station.  The old-growth longleaf pine forest found at the site is a remnant of the once vast, ancestral forests of the southeastern United States.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Others sites are subject to logging, winter fire regimes, hunting pressures, as well as military or forestry activities which may affect the habitat quality.






Field Work
 
 
 

Live traps are used to capture tortoises at their burrows


 
 

Measurements


 
 


 
 
 
 

Tortoise with ID and radio









                              Lots of Telemetry!

 
 











The Gopher Tortoise Camera
 

This unmanned camera is used to record tortoise behavior and activity
(see Guyer et al. 1997 in publications list below)


 
 


 
 
 


Commensals
 

Many species congregate around the burrow for various reasons



First row: At the top of the first picture there are two pair of Bobcat legs, Eastern Diamondback, Indigo Snake, Raccoon, and Fox Squirrel
Second row:  Rabbit, Opposum
Third row:  Skunk








More Cool Pictures!!!
 
 
 
 


Lunch Picture
 
 
 
 
 


Birthday Picture


Publications

Birkhead, R. D.  2001.  Ingestion of seeds by gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) in a southeastern pine savanna: species composition and effects on germination.  Auburn University, Department of Biological Sciences 46pp.

Boglioli, M. D., W. K. Michener and G. Guyer.  2000.  Habitat selection and modification by the gopher tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus, in Georgia longleaf pine forest.  Chelonian Conservation and Biology 3(4):699-705

Ott, J., M. T. Mendonca, C. Guyer and W. K. Michener.  2000.  Seasonal changes in sex and adrenal steroid hormones of gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus).  General and Comparative Endocrinology 117:299-312.

Aresco, M.J.  1999.  Habitat structures associated with juvenile gopher tortoise burrows on pine plantations in Alabama. Chelonian Conservation Biology 3:507-509.

Aresco, M. J. and C. Guyer.  1999.  Growth of the tortoise Gopherus polyphemus in slash pine plantations of southcentral Alabama.  Herpetologica 55:499-506.

Aresco, M. J. and C. Guyer.  1999.  Burrow abandonment by gopher tortoises in slash pine plantations of the Conecuh National Forest.  Journal of Wildlife Management 63:26-35.

Boglioli, M. D.  1999.  Burrow dispersion and occupancy patterns as they relate to habitat parameters and social behavior in the gopher tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus.  Auburn University, Department of Biological Sciences 61pp.

Ott, J.  1999.  Patterns of movement, burrow use, and reproduction in a population of gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus): implications for the conservation and management of a declining species.  Auburn University, Department of Biological Sciences 88pp.

Aresco, M. J.  1998.  Growth and burrow abandonment of the gopher tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus, in slash pine plantations of southern Alabama.  Auburn University, Department of Zoology and Wildlife 113pp.

Aresco, M. J. and C. Guyer.  1998.  Efficacy of using scute annuli to determine growth histories and age of Gopherus polyphemus in southern Alabama.  Copeia 1998:1094-1100.

Guyer, C. and S. M. Hermann.  1997.  Patterns of size and longevity of gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) burrows: implications for the longleaf pine ecosystem.  Chelonian Conservation and Biology 2:507-513.

Guyer, C., C. T. Meadows, S. C. Townsend and L. G. Wilson. 1997.  A camera device for recording vertebrate activity.  Herpetological Review 28(3):138-140.

Guyer, C., K. E. Nicholson and S. Baucom.  1996.  Effects of tracked vehicles on gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) at Fort Benning military installation, Georgia.  Georgia Journal of Science 54:195-203.

Herrington, M. D.  1996.  The effects of stand thinning on gopher tortoises, Gopherus polyphemus (Testudines: Testudinidae), in the Conecuh National Forest.  Auburn University, Department of Zoology and Wildlife 47pp.

Guyer, C. and M. A. Bailey.  1993.  Amphibians and reptiles of the longleaf pine communities.  The Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference No. 18:139-158.

Bryan, T. W.  1991.  Effects of Black Creek Seed Orchard establishment on a population of gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) (Daudin) in southeastern Mississippi.  Auburn University, Department of Zoology and Wildlife 52pp.

Bryan, T. W., E. L. Blankenship and C. Guyer.  1991.  A new method of trapping gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus).  Herpetological Review 22:19-21

Hermann, S. M.  1988.  Preliminary report on the impact of gopher tortoise burrows on longleaf pine-wiregrass groundcover vegetation.  Wiregrass biology and management: maintaining groundcover integrity in longleaf pine ecosystems 5pp.
 
 

MANY THANKS TO THE PEOPLE OF THE TORTOISE PROJECT THROUGH THE YEARS!!

John Jenson, Brian Emmanuel, Cynthia Kanter, Elizabeth Ward, Amy
VanRyswyk, Marlyn Herrington, Carl Ferraro, Matt Aresco, Daniel Lee, Hardin Waddle, Chris Adams, Erica Lee, Wes Wilkerson, Kristen DeHollander, Scott Horn, Geoff Sorrell, Arvind Bhuta, Maggie Smith, Rachel Hackren, Sara Ress, Scott Hamerle, Shana Moseley, Kirsten Nicholson, Susan Baucom, Roger Birkhead, Abbie Sorenson, Jeff Kane, Andy Raabb, Cortnie Krissman, John Cannella, Tina Kesler, Herbert Kesler, Kim Mortimer, Kim Kreitinger, Russel Burk, Alison McGee, Nareen Kodandapani, Jennifer Weeks, Daniel Hahn, James Riser, Alison Reiner, Nancy Jordan, Scott Powell, David Melhamen, Keith Patton, Leslie Welch, Walter Chambers, Slayton Varner, Kerri Landry, Marci Palmer, Jeannine Ott, Mellissa Dills, Richard Sharp, Lee Etheridde, Derek Fussell, Walter Cotton, Ivy Godbois, Valerie Johnson.

Guyer Lab Page