Gopher Tortoise ( Gopherus polyphemus) ) Vertebrate Burrow Commensals within a Private, Working Forest Landscape

The Gopher Tortoise ( Gopherus polyphemus) ) is a keystone species endemic to the Coastal Plain ecoregion of the southeastern United States. Gopher Tortoises excavate extensive burrows that are used by over 60 vertebrate and 300 invertebrate species. Our understanding of burrow commensals has generally been limited to Longleaf Pine ( Pinus palustris) ) savanna and xeric uplands and shrublands, excluding private, working pine ( Pinus spp.) forests that are known to harbor tortoise populations. Therefore, we used passive infrared wildlife cameras to document vertebrate burrow commensals and evaluate differences in composition across burrow classifications (i.e., abandoned, active, and inactive) within a private, working Loblolly Pine ( Pinus taeda) ) forest located in the Upper Coastal Plain ecoregion of Georgia, USA. Our study showed that the composition of vertebrate commensals did not differ across abandoned, active, or inactive tortoise burrows, indicating that burrows, regardless of classification, may provide a similar suite of resources (e.g., refugia, forage) to vertebrate commensals. Also, we observed numerous species using burrows that typically occur in other landscapes with known tortoise populations (e.g., Longleaf Pine savannah). We encourage continued monitoring of tortoise burrows and other potential refugia within working forests to better understand how these structures contribute to species abundance and persistence within these forests.