Distribution and Habitat Selection by the Maritime Pocket Gopher

Abstract

Abstract Geomys personatus maritimus (Maritime Pocket Gopher) is a genetically distinct subspecies that only occurs in deep sandy soils of Nueces and Kleberg counties of southern Texas. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has considered recommending the Maritime Pocket Gopher for federal listing. Because a large proportion of this gopher's current range occurs on US Navy (hereafter, Navy) property, active management by the Navy plays a key role in the conservation of this subspecies. Therefore, our objective was to assess the distribution and habitat preferences of Maritime Pocket Gophers on Navy properties in southern Texas. We conducted a strip-transect survey to evaluate the number and distribution of gopher mounds on the Navy base. We created GIS layers of the different disturbance types and plant communities, and overlaid them onto the mapped gopher-mound density layer. If the proportion of available area used by Maritime Pocket Gophers was below or above the corresponding 90% confidence interval, we ca...