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The GopherThe Southeastern pocket gopher (Fig. 1) is restricted to well-drained soils in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. Their burrowing produces conspicuous aggregates of earthen mounds (Fig. 2). Since the gophers tend not to leave the confines of their burrow system during daylight hours, few people have ever seen this animal. The burrow system (Fig. 3) created by each gopher often exceeds a hundred feet in length. Each system typically has six to twelve mounds associated with it. The mounds are connected to the burrow system by diagonal tubes that are generally plugged with dirt so that no open entrances are visible above ground (Avise and Larem 1982). Pocket gophers require open grassland or marginal habitats rich in grasses and herbaceous vegetation for their survival. They are probably the most important grazing herbivore of longleaf pine/wiregrass ecosystems. Their constant burrowing enhances soil fertility by moving nutrients to the surface that would be otherwise lost via leaching or other factors (Grant & McBrayer, 1981). 
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