The home range and response of gopher tortoises in Cental Florida to habitat manipulation by prescribed burning

Keywords

Gopher tortoise -- Florida; Habitat (Ecology) -- Modification

Abstract

Gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) were studied on two sites located in Lake Buena Vista, Orange County, Florida .. Forty tortoises were fitted with radio transmitters and tracked for three years to analyze home range size and spatial movement in response o prescribed fires. Home range sizes were estimated using the method of minimum convex polygon. Home range estimations ranged from 0.0 to 8.4 ha. The number of burrows utilized per tortoise varied between one and 12 and the number of burrow

changes, movements from one burrow to another, ranged from 0-42. Within the above categories (home range size; number of burrows utilized; number of burrow changes) comparisons were made between female and males tortoises and resident and relocated tortoises. To understand the structural parameters influencing habitat selection, a lm2 frame was placed behind a random selection of burrows ( occupied and unoccupied; burned and non-burned). The percent cover of litter, herbaceous vegetation, shrubs below 1 m, shrubs above 1 m, trees below 2 m and trees above 2 m was recorded. An arcsin transformation was applied to normalize these data before an An ova was employed to compare to the structure of occupied and unoccupied burrows, as well as, burned and non-burned burrows. Modeling was used to evaluate the characteristics involved in the gopher tortoise's movement patterns to analyze the role prescribed fires play in the management of this species. Observations from 19 radio-tagged tortoises produced adequate data for building four Monte Carlo models developed to simulate tortoise movements and characterize the dynamics of these patterns. Variables such as burrow fidelity, distance effects, and habitat preferences were introduced one variable at a time into each consecutive model.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2003

Advisor

Stout, I. Jack

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Biology

Format

PDF

Pages

93 p.

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Identifier

DP0029108

Subjects

Arts and Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic; Dissertations, Academic -- Arts and Sciences

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