Some recently published articles about gopher tortoises, their commensals, and upland communities in the southeast. Check out GTC's Education & Outreach page for more literature, including snake and tortoise bibliographies.

Chandler, H.C., D. Steen, J. Blue, J.E. Bogan, M.R. Bolt, et al. 2023. Evaluating growth rates of captive, wild, and reintroduced populations of the imperiled eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon couperi). Herpetologica https://doi.org/10.1655/Herpetologica-D-22-00041

Dirr, K.M., J.C. Pawelek, J.P. Stone, and M.E. Kimball. 2024. Seasonal and diel gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) activity and burrow use by commensals in coastal beach dune habitat, as examined by wildlife cameras. Chelonian Conservation and Biology https://doi.org/10.2744/CCB-1600.1

Hartmann, A., K. Subramaniam, C. Conrad, P.H.O. Viadanna, T.B. Waltzek, and A.V. Longo. 2024. Genomic characterization of two ranavirus isolates identified from a gopher frog (Lithobates capito) and a striped newt (notophthalmus perstriatus) during a mass mortality event in Florida. Virology https://doi.org/10.1128/mra.00017-24

Hawthorne, W.H., J. Bogan, R. Ball, and J.M. Goessling. 2024. Physiological responses of eastern indigo snakes (Drymarchon couperi) infected with Cryptosporidium serpentis. Journal of Herpetological Medicine and Surgery https://doi.org/10.5818/JHMS-D-22-00016

Krohn, A.R., B. Folt, J.J. Apodaca, C. Guyer, and J.M. Goessling. 2024. Using genomic data to estimate population structure of gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) populations in Southern Alabama. Conservation Genetics https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-024-01601-1

Lance, C.M. and J.H.K. Pechmann. 2024. Assessing factors that increase dusky gopher frog larval performance in open-canopy wetlands. Journal of Wildlife Management DOI: 10.1002/jwmg.22559

Nelson, K.N., A.J. McFall, E.T. Stoneycypher, C.S. Swartzbaugh, M.C. Allender, and S.L. Lance. 2024. Development and validation of a scoring system for abnormalities in the Gopher Frog (Rana capito). Herpetological Conservation and Biology 19(1):117–128