Jeanne Jones

Habitat Characteristics Associated with Burrows of Gopher Tortoises and Non-burrow Locations on a Mississippi Military Installation

SEAFWA Journal Volume 3, March 2016

Since the 1987 federal listing as threatened of western populations of gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus), tortoise population recovery and habitat restoration efforts have been implemented at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center, Mississippi. We studied plant community and edaphic features around tortoise burrows and at non-occupied locations in 2007. We investigated relationships between burrow presence and habitat characteristics through decision tree and logistic regression analyses. Burrow occurrence was positively related to stem counts of woody plants and species...