Background/Question/Methods: The gopher tortoise
(Gopherus polyphemus) is a burrowing terrestrial reptile, endemic to the southeastern United States. This chelonian is a keystone species, benefitting 300+ commensals that utilize its burrow. Populations are diminishing throughout their rage, including South Florida, mainly due to urbanization and subsequent fragmentation and poor management of remaining habitats. Fire is a natural factor that reduces canopy cover, promotes understory growth of vegetation, controls ecto-parasites, and can degrade various parasitic eggs throughout the environment. Lack of fire can lead to vegetation overgrowth, forcing tortoises to crowd where lower vegetation is found. Increased gopher tortoise population densities, poor habitat quality, and lack of fire may influence disease transmission and susceptibility. Parasite roles within wild tortoise populations are largely unknown, despite growing evidence that these pathogens may pose significant health risks. Only 6 studies in Georgia and Louisiana on approximately 159 tortoises, have been conducted on
G. polyphemus endoparasites, showing the need for further studies to characterize parasites across their entire range. The objectives of this study are to identify and evaluate the number and prevalence of endoparasite species in four different sites. Tortoise fecal samples were taken from four South Florida habitats varying in size, population density, and management.
Results/Conclusions: Seven species of intestinal parasites were discovered from a total of 71 tortoises throughout four South Florida populations. Identification methods included fecal flotation and sedimentation to detect nematode/helminth ova, trichrome staining for protozoan cysts, and Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) for Cryptosporidiium detection. Identified parasite species include multiple endo-helminths such as Cyathostomes (Chapiniella), pinworms (Tachygonetria), ascarids (Augusticaecum), flukes (Telorchis), and protozoans including Eimeria and Cryptosporidium, as well as different Amoeba species. The number of parasite species differed between sites, with only pinworm and cyathostomes being present within all populations Parasite prevalence (percentage of tortoises parasitized in the population) varied between sites, however over all tortoises sampled, 80% of tortoises were infected with pinworms, 63% of tortoises were infected with Chapiniella, 9% of tortoises were infected with ascarids, 12% were infected with flukes, 11% were infected with Eimeria, 1% were infected with Cryptosporidium, and 1% were infected in Amoebas. Due to G. polyphemus declining numbers and threatened status, new information may be significant and vital to improving the management of this species and ensure its existence in the future.
