SUN-HERALD (Charlotte, Florida) 05 December 06 Locals attend gopher tortoise meeting
Englewood: Coastal Wildlife Club members Jim Daeling, Judy DeMersman, Wilma Katz and Julie Peck traveled from Englewood to Valdosta, Ga., in late October to attend the 28th annual meeting of the Gopher Tortoise Council. Held each year in one of the range states of the gopher tortoise -- Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina -- the meetings focus on the tortoise, the hundreds of species which use its burrow, and other reptiles, amphibians and plants that share its environment, particularly upland habitat.
This year, a prominent theme was the potential impact of exotic species on gopher tortoises. Whether brought in accidentally or intentionally, some species adapt too well. They become invasive exotics and commonly displace native vegetation and prey on or out-compete native species for food and shelter.
Dr. Ken Krysko with the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida at Gainesville spoke on the black spiny-tailed iguana, the exotic lizard, now common on Boca Grande. It has been documented entering tortoise burrows, but whether it actually uses the burrow, preys on eggs or harms hatchlings is still unknown. It does compete with gopher tortoises and other native species for food, and according to Krysko, there is concern that this iguana may be a seed disperser for Brazilian pepper, which the Florida Department of Transportation spends million of dollars to control and eradicate.
Steve Johnson of the University of Florida in Plant City cited the $120 billion annual cost in damage associated with invasives, noting that in addition to economic costs and enormous ecological damage, there are costs as well to human health and quality of life. He went on to discuss the Cuban tree frog, an exotic animal now common in southwest Florida. Much larger than natives, growing to 6 inches, the Cuban tree frog is toxic to other animals, and its prey includes native frogs.
Armadillos, another introduced species, caused extensive destruction of eggs and nests at the Reed Bingham State Park in Adel, Ga., prompting the establishment five years ago of a gopher tortoise egg recovery program. Park Manager Chet Powell of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources reported that foxes and crows are also a threat, but to a lesser extent. He told how crows watch females digging their nests, then fly down and pick off eggs as they are laid. Volunteers handle much of the recovery program work as well as the restoration of longleaf pine habitat on the park.
In degraded habitat, with minimal vegetation to provide camouflage for small tortoises, predators may take virtually every hatchling or destroy eggs even before they become hatchlings. Large tortoises can be present for many years without juveniles on hand to replace them, but healthy populations of gopher tortoises must include large and small animals.
Here at home, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted recently to uplist the state's gopher tortoises from a species of special concern to a threatened species. The pending change is intended to provide tortoises more protection and eventually reverse severe declines in their populations attributed primarily to development-related loss of habitat. The FWC commissioners must approve a management plan before the change in status is finalized, which is expected to occur mid-year 2007.
Relocation will be an important and very visible aspect of the plan. Details will be key to ensuring whether relocation programs result in a positive outcome in the long term or are simply a means to dump animals elsewhere, one step ahead of the bulldozers. A draft plan will be available for public comment very soon.
Protection and management is preferred. However, if land is not available or if management components such as habitat restoration, eradication or at least control of invasive plants, and burning are not feasible, off-site relocation may be the best option.
Results thus far of studies on gopher tortoise populations relocated to distant areas suggest that long-term penning helps promote site fidelity (to the new home); females are more sensitive to relocation than males; and while the tortoises seem to accept their new site within about a year, a "slow leak" of individuals continues. Land managers and policy makers will follow closely the on-going relocation studies of tortoise populations.
For information on gopher tortoises, visit the following Web sites:
* www.gophertortoisecouncil.org;
* www.defenders.org;
* www.ftct.org;
* www.ashtonbiodiversity.org;
* www.nokuse.org/
For information on Coastal Wildlife Club, contact president Zoé Bass at 941-474-4528.
Locals attend gopher tortoise meeting