Check out the 2025 Winter Edition of the GTC Newsletter

Click HERE for the latest news and announcements from the Gopher Tortoise Council, including:

• Letter from the Co-Chair, including plans to host the 48th Annual Meeting at Gulf State Park Lodge in Gulf Shores, AL. Tentative dates are Nov 6–8, 2026. More details to follow in the coming months!
• GTC Announcements
• Gopher Tortoise Council’s 47th Annual Meeting at Tall Timbers Advances Science and Conservation
• 2025 Gopher Tortoise Council State and Committee Reports
• Recent Research: 
  

  • Dewald, G.S., C.M. Yon, and D.J. Gustafson. 2025. Using eDNA to characterize amphibian communities in isolated wetlands of the longleaf pine ecosystem. BIOS https://doi.org/10.1893/BIOS-D-25-00015

  • Goessling, J.M., G. Weikert, L. Conrad, and M.L. Hilton. 2025. Old neighbors, long-lost siblings, and total strangers: Social environment impacts on headstart tortoise behaviours. Applied Animal Behavior Science https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106869

  • Gray, E.R., S.L. Wilkinson, M.C. Miller, W. Wilkinson, C. Adams, S. Ebert, C. Hitchens, J. Holloway, S.M. Welch, and J.L. Waldron. 2025. An emergent disease reduces survival of mature female eastern diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus), a key demographic for a slow-lived species. Scientific Reports https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-21190-4

  • Holbrook, J.D. and K. Barrett. 2025. Amphibian assemblages in isolated wetlands are predicted by interannual variation in fish occupancy: A case study from Florida, USA. Herpetological Conservation and Biology

  • Lloyd Jr., R.B., J.A. Henning, S.R. Schultze, D.H. Nelson, and A.D. Chupp. 2025. Burrow persistence and spatial distribution of federally and state-protected gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) populations in southwest Alabama. Animal Conservation https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.70046

  • Mullaney, A.J. and J.M. Flenniken. 2025. Novel observation of Colletes ultravalidus (Apoidea: Colletidae) from a gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) burrow apron. Southeastern Naturalist Notes https://doi.org/10.1656/058.024.0401

  • Wetterer, J.K., R.C. Jones, J. Moore, and V. Viluan. 2025. Stinging ant species at gopher tortoise burrows change over time with habitat change. Sociobiology https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v72i4.11787