Yellow-faced Pocket Gopher - Ecology

Ecology

Yellow-faced pocket gophers usually inhabit deep sandy or silty soils that are relatively free from rocks. However, where Geomys (another genus of pocket gophers) is present, Cratogeomys is restricted to "denser, shallower, sometimes rocket soils." Research in Kansas showed that tracts that had no gophers occupying it consisted largely of areas with fine-textured soils that are planted with crops. The crops (corn, wheat, and grain sorghum) were harvested and disked annually along with the roadside ditches adjacent to the cropland. It was concluded that pocket gophers are not able to inhabit these lands because land-use practices have destabilized the habitats, eliminating both refuge and dispersal corridors.

Yellow-faced pocket gophers are preyed on by small carnivorous mammals and large hawks and owls.



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