BULLETIN FLORIDA MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY VOL. 38 PT. 1(4)


County, Florida. My project included a telemetry study of adult female gopher
tortoises and an assessment of tortoise population size-class structure. The data
presented here also include mark-recapture information collected between 1983
and 1990 by R. Franz and C.K. Dodd, Jr., and population census data collected by
R. Franz from 1985 to 1991. During 1989 and 1990, north-central Florida
underwent a prolonged drought (Motz et al. 1991). In 1991, seasonal rainfall was
near average. I was thus able to document the short-term effects of drought on
reproduction in gopher tortoises.
 The specific objectives of this study were: (1) to determine recapture rates, sex
ratio, and growth patterns of gopher tortoises, (2) to estimate home range size and
examine activity patterns of adult female tortoises in sandhill and old field habitats,
(3) to examine population structure and density of tortoises in different locations
and habitats and to assess impacts of human predation on tortoise populations, (4)
to determine mean clutch size of gopher tortoises and to evaluate the relationship
between female carapace length and clutch size, and (5) to determine whether there
were differences in clutch size, hatching success, and hatchling size in 1990, at the
height of the long-term drought, compared to 1991, a year of near average rainfall.


 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


 I am especially grateful to Richard Franz for his advice and encouragement throughout the course of
this study. C. Kenneth Dodd, Jr., also offered valuable guidance and support. I am indebted to Ken Dodd and
Tia Cordier who graciously revised and retyped the manuscript while I was out of the country. I thank the
Board of Directors of the Katharine Ordway Preserve-Swisher Memorial Sanctuary for permission to
conduct the study, and the Gopher Tortoise Council for partial financial support
 The following people provided field assistance: Ray Ashton, C. Kenneth Dodd, Jr., Richard Franz,
 Brian and Cyndi Gates, Linda LaClaire, Rick Smith, Karl Studenroth, and students from the 1989 through
 1991 Wildlife Techniques class at the University of Florida. Joan Berish, Mark Deyrup, Howard Kochman,
 and Dale Jackson provided technical advice. William Maples and Neil Becker provided the equipment and
 materials for X-raying tortoises. I am most grateful for the support of Rick and Jackie Smith, Linda
 LaClaire, Chan Clarkson, Barbara and Rick Harrison, and Charlie Fellows.


 METHODS


 A total of 196 gopher tortoises were captured and marked from October 1983
 through September 1991. Tortoises caught prior to May 1989 were captured
 opportunistically by other researchers. I captured tortoises manually, with
 live-traps (Tomahawk Live-Trap Co., Tomahawk WI), or pitfall traps. A single
 juvenile was caught in a funnel trap. Tomahawk live-traps were set in front of the
 burrow entrance, anchored with tent stakes, and shaded (Douglass 1986). Pitfall
 traps consisted of 19-L plastic buckets sunk flush with the ground directly in front
 of the burrow entrance (Campbell and Christman 1982). The top of the bucket was