| surveillance for upper respiratory tract disease and mycoplasma in free-ranging gopher tortoises (gopherus polyphemus) in georgia, usa. | abstract upper respiratory tract disease (urtd) in the gopher tortoise (gopherus polyphemus) is highly contagious and has been implicated in the reduction of populations throughout the range. with the exception of a few limited studies, the prevalence of urtd in georgia, usa tortoise populations is poorly known. we found that exposure to mycoplasma agassizii and mycoplasma testudineum, associated with urtd, varied geographically among 11 georgia tortoise populations. the prevalence of antibodies ... | 2014 | 25098305 |
| effects of mycoplasmal upper-respiratory-tract disease on movement and thermoregulatory behavior of gopher tortoises (gopherus polyphemus) in georgia, usa. | abstract from 2011-12, we studied a gopher tortoise (gopherus polyphemus) population with a historically high prevalence of antibodies to mycoplasma agassizii to assess long-term effects of upper-respiratory-tract disease (urtd) on tortoise behavior. we radiotracked 30 adult tortoises (16 males, 14 females) from a long-term study site with the use of mark-recapture methods to determine site fidelity and to compare home-range size to that of a study in 1997. an additional 10 tortoises (six males, ... | 2014 | 25121399 |