Conservation

The Southeastern pocket gopher is currently not considered endangered or threatened throughout most of its range. However, many isolated populations of this species are threatened by habitat destruction and fire suppression. Some localized populations are known to be extinct. Since a fair number of the insect species inhabiting the burrows of Geomys pinetis appear not to be evenly distributed throughout the range of the gopher, extinction of a single isolated host population could conceivably eliminate an insect species found nowhere else on earth. Therefore mapping the distribution of these burrow-inhabiting insects is essential if arthropod species are to be factored in to conservation and land management decisions.

A contribution from the Bioinformatics Project Web Editor: Michael D. Hubbard Page last modified on 18 August 2000