For a long time the gopher tortoise population has dominated the south eastern United States, ranging from the state of Georgia stretching as far as Louisiana and continuing down to Florida. The gopher tortoise primarily resided in the longleaf pine woodlands, serving as a keystone species to this ecosystem, providing shelter for over three hundred species in these woodlands that have frequent fires. However, overtime the south east has lost over eighty percent of its longleaf pine woodlands due to deforestation and the decline of natural forest fires, causing the gopher tortoise population to decline very rapidly as well. Another recent discovery of a respiratory disease found in gopher tortoises has also caused the population to decline. This paper will discuss various tendencies, such as movement and burrow patterns, hatchling survival, and genetic variation of the gopher tortoise and how they each have been impacted by the recent decline in the overall level of the gopher tortoise population.
The gopher tortoise has been established as a frequent mover from one area to the next. Many do this in order to increase their growth, reproduction, and survival in order to obtain better food, nesting sites, and to find new mates (Eubanks et al. 2003). A recent study done by Eubanks, Michiener, and Guyer, using a total number of one hundred and thirty one tortoises, the group tracked the frequency of movement, the average distance moved and number of burrows, as well as the average home range occupied by the gopher tortoise in longleaf pine woodland in Baker County, Georgia. Both mean distance traveled and number of burrows was much higher among males. Females also occupied a much smaller home range than males (Eubanks et al. 2003). Th...
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...d in all 10 they found that the number of inactive burrows compared to the number of active burrows either stayed the same or decreased over the period of study. Similarly, the number of abandoned burrows relative to the total number of active and inactive increased at 6 of the 10 sites. Of the 6, the increase was more than 10 percent and four of them was more than 50 percent (McCoy et al. 2006). They concluded by stating that because of the number of abandoned burrows compared to the total number of active and inactive burrows suggests that the gopher tortoise population has declined in 8 of the 10 sites, and this is not credited to the movement patterns of the gopher tortoise. Based on the two previous articles of discussion, it is clear that burrow patterns are also offer a reliable conclusion that the population of the gopher tortoise is steadily declining.
In this research paper, I will address the changes that occurred within the ecosystem of Yellowstone National Park since the reintroduction of the grey wolves. The paper will consist of four sections; the first section will include the history behind the extirpation and subsequent reintroduction of the gray wolf in Northern America. The second section will explore the political controversy that surrounds the reintroduction of the gray wolf in Yellowstone. The third section will contain discuss the gray wolf and its impact on the ecosystem of Yellowstone. I will conclude my essay by explaining how the gray wolves act as climate change buffers in Yellowstone amidst global warming.
Isle Royal is located fifty-six miles north of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. It is the largest wilderness area in Michigan (USNPS, 2014). The island is surrounded by Lake Superior, which creates a cooler temperature. This results in arctic plant species growth on the island. There are only eighteen mammal species present on the island because most mammals cannot make the trip across the frozen great lake (USNPS, 2014). The need for an ice bridge is not the only environmental factor that is stopping the migration of animals; there is also the severe cold, and also wind and fog (Vucetich, 2012). Some species such as caribou and coyote have found the island to be too intense and have gone extinct (Vucetich, 2012). Due to the harsh weather and isolation of the island, humans have never regularly lived on the island (Vucetich, 2012). Some of species that are present such as the red squirrel are becoming their own subspecies due to its separation from the mainland (USNPS, 2014). The isolation of Isle Royal is what makes it a great place to conduct research, it has very low human interaction and the species that are on the island will have been and continue to be isolated from the mainland.
The re-wilding of North America is basically a conservation strategy (Donlan 2005), aimed at restoring the Pleistocene era (Donlan 2005, Rubenstein et al. 2006). This could be achieved by reintroducing African and Asian megafauna, these species are phylogenetically known to be direct descendents of the extinct Pleistocene species or animals of similar taxa (Donlan 2005, Rubenstein et al. 2006). Re-populating North America is essential for both ecological and evolutionary potential (Donlan 2005) and also economic gain (Donlan 2005, Rubenstein et al. 2006). In this paper I will be discussing the main arguments presented by two papers regarding the Pleistocene North America re-wilding. The first paper is written by Donlan (2005), it is a commentary paper in which he proposes the plan of re-wilding North America based on his opinions. The second paper is by Rubenstein et al. (2006), it is a research paper where he outlines some facts contrary to Donlan (2005)’s paper, unlike Donlan (2005)‘s paper his arguments were supported by variety of recent Scientific published papers which are relevant to the topic discussed.
Weeks, P., & Packard, J. (2009). Feral hogs: Invasive species or nature. Human Organization, 68(3), 280-292. Retrieved from http://wk4ky4tk9h.scholar.serialssolutions.com.library.esc.edu/?sid=google&auinit=P&aulast=Weeks&atitle=Feral Hogs: Invasive Species or Nature's Bounty?&title=Human organization&volume=68&issue=3&date=2009&spage=280&issn=0018-7259
middle of paper ... ... The Web. 28 July 2011. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.showFile&rep=file&fil=SMURF_otter.pdf. Community Ecology.
Cavendish, M. (2011). North American Wildlife. (p. 109). New York: Marshall Cavendish Reference. DOI: www.marshallcavendish.us
Loggerhead turtles are becoming endangered more and more often. Not many people understand the dangers that these turtles are in, especially when the females are nesting. Nesting takes an important role in the lives of these turtles and is an amazing process that occurs during the season. Unfortunately, many factors disturb the process of these hatching eggs. This paper explains these factors in depth to educate the audience about the dangers involved in loggerhead nesting. Light pollution, natural disasters, and predators are described and explained as to why they affect the process of nesting. Many organizations are trying to share their knowledge on these loggerhead-nesting dangers with people and are trying to help keep the loggerheads alive.
Varricchio, David J., Frankie Jackson, and Clive N. Trueman. “A Nesting Trace with Eggs for
In comparison, wolves were gone from Yellowstone for more than 70 years. While they were gone, the ecosystem continued to function properly. With the gray wolf returning, the ecosystem improved. Yellowstone depends on the gray wolf to hel...
Genbu (玄武 げんぶ) is a large tortoise or turtle combined with a snake. Genbu means dark warrior. Another name for Genbu is Tengoku no kurai kōtei, which means dark emperor of the heavens orブラックトータス which means black Tortoise. Genbu is in the northern sky. Genbu is portrayed as two creatures, a tortoise with a snake coiled around it. Other times he is described as one being, a snake tortoise chimera. Genbu resides in the northern part of the sky. He is in seven of the twenty-eight constellations. He takes up one-quarter of the sky. The snake’s neck can found in Sagittarius. The tortoise’s shell resides in Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pegasus. In Pegasus and Andromeda, you can see the snake’s tail. Genbu is the protector of the north. He symbolizes
The project at Yellowstone was met with some apprehension. Biologists there feared that without the fear of predation during the past few generations, the resident moose at Yellowstone would not fear the wol...
Both the snow leopard and the green turtle are classified as endangered under the IUCN red list with decreasing population trends. Both live in very different habita...
"Avian Reintroduction and Translocation : Home." Domain Default Page. Lincoln Park Zoo, 1 Apr. 2008. Web. 9 Nov. 2011. .
" Society & Animals 18.2 (2010): 183-203. Academic Search Premier -. EBSCO. Web. The Web. The Web.
could go extinct with the way the climate is going (Roach, 2004). When many different kinds