Sampling

Our initial task was to gather as much information on the distribution of Geomys pinetis as possible. Sources of information included published records from the literature, museum databases, as well as unpublished records from pocket gopher specialists and natural historians. We then proceeded to sample as many sites as possible through out the range of G. pinetis. We made a special effort to sample marginal populations as well as those that appeared to be isolated. Unfortunately, no gophers were found at many of the localities they were once known to inhabit. This phenomenon was more prevalent in Georgia and Alabama than in Florida (see Fig. 4). When we were unable to locate historic populations of Geomys at a given locality, we would generally conduct an extensive search for them in surrounding areas of suitable habitat. Burrow-inhabiting insects were collected by means of baited pitfall traps (Fig. 5). A small bait cup containing a mixture of pig dung, water and malt sugar is suspended above the pitfall cup. A plywood board is placed over the excavation and covered with soil in order to exclude rain and surface-dwelling insects.

A contribution from the Bioinformatics Project Web Editor: Michael D. Hubbard Page last modified on 05 September 2000