Background
The preserve has existed longer than Florida Atlantic University, as the years went by it began to decline in size. Many animals have found the preserve as their home including the gopher tortoise. Gopher tortoise are a type of ectotherm animal that can live up to sixty days. They feed on vegetation and build burrows as their homes. The burrows they build can be used by about three hundred different animals as protection. Over the time, Gopher tortoise has evolved as a very threaten species dealing with habitat loss, predators and much more leading to the risk of becoming extinct.
In 1990, the density of several burrows in Cape Sable, Florida were measured. Burrows that were active and in use had a low density. Those same burrows were remeasured in 2001. Waddle, Mazzotti, and Rice (2006) discovered that 76% of those burrows had a higher density indicating that they were no longer in use. This evidence showed that there was a major decline in the population of …show more content…
Dziadzio, Smith, Chandler, and Castleberry (2016) did a research on how the location of the gopher nest could affect its survival. They found that nests that were away from the burrow in sandy areas survived more than the ones in burrow aprons. They also learned that the nests that were in places that burned up during the research had a very low survival (Dziadzio et al., 2016).
Many research studies are being done to find ways to change the environment to help prevent the extinction of the gopher tortoise. Styrsky, Guyer, Balbach, and Turkmen (2010) did a study on the interaction of area and abundance of the burrows to predict population size. They discovered that many of the areas where the gopher tortoise lived were to small and that variables could be used to help create an environment so that the gopher tortoise wouldn’t go extinct (Styrsky et al.,
The preserve has existed longer than Florida Atlantic University, as the years went by it began to decline in size. Many animals have found the preserve as their home including the gopher tortoise. Gopher tortoise are a type of ectotherm animal that can live up to sixty days. They feed on vegetation and build burrows as their homes. The burrows they build can be used by about three hundred different animals as protection. Over the time, Gopher tortoise has evolved as a very threaten species dealing with habitat loss, predators and much more leading to the risk of becoming extinct.
In 1990, the density of several burrows in Cape Sable, Florida were measured. Burrows that were active and in use had a low density. Those same burrows were remeasured in 2001. Waddle, Mazzotti, and Rice (2006) discovered that 76% of those burrows had a higher density indicating that they were no longer in use. This evidence showed that there was a major decline in the population of …show more content…
Dziadzio, Smith, Chandler, and Castleberry (2016) did a research on how the location of the gopher nest could affect its survival. They found that nests that were away from the burrow in sandy areas survived more than the ones in burrow aprons. They also learned that the nests that were in places that burned up during the research had a very low survival (Dziadzio et al., 2016).
Many research studies are being done to find ways to change the environment to help prevent the extinction of the gopher tortoise. Styrsky, Guyer, Balbach, and Turkmen (2010) did a study on the interaction of area and abundance of the burrows to predict population size. They discovered that many of the areas where the gopher tortoise lived were to small and that variables could be used to help create an environment so that the gopher tortoise wouldn’t go extinct (Styrsky et al.,