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Twenty-Third Annual Meeting and Symposium of the
Desert Tortoise Council, April 3-5, 1998
Abstracts
Conservation and Management Implications of Upper Respiratory Tract Disease to Gopher Tortoises
G. S. McLaughlin,1,2,6 D. R. Brown,3,4 I. M. Schumacher,5 E. R. Jacobson,1 M. B. Brown,3 and P. A. Klein4,5
1Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary
Medicine
2Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Institute of
Food and Agricultural Sciences, College of Agriculture
3Department of Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine
4Department of Pathology, Immunology, and Laboratory Medicine,
College of Medicine
5Biotechnologies for the Ecological, Evolutionary, and Conservation
Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA.
6Currently with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ventura, CA 93003
When tortoises are impacted by human activities, decisions must be made regarding their disposition. The choices open for a particular population of tortoises depend on the location; historical, current, and future site use; surrounding land use patterns; importance of the population in maintaining genetic variability; and political and social factors. No one prescription will be ideal for all situations, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to develop a set of prescriptions that will cover all permutations of the above factors. However, guidelines for making decisions can be developed, and some are presented in this talk. The following points must be considered when making conservation and management decisions relative to URTD in gopher and other tortoises: 1) Goals must be clearly established. 2) Personnel must have appropriate training to recognize URTD, collect necessary samples, and interpret results. 3) Clear questions must be formulated. 4) Survey and monitoring programs must be developed and implemented, and precautions taken to ensure detection and prevent spread of URTD. 5) Management options must be weighed, and plans formulated and implemented that are consistent with established goals. 6) The results of ongoing and new research must be evaluated and incorporated into management plans as the information becomes available.
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