Root cropping by pocket gophers

Veronica Selden; Francis E Putz

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2022.06.003

Root cropping by pocket gophers

Curr Biol. 2022 Jul 11;32(13):R734-R735. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.06.003.

Authors

Veronica Selden¹, Francis E Putz²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32641, USA.
² Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32641, USA. Electronic address: fep@ufl.edu.

PMID: 35820381
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.06.003

Abstract

Pocket gophers (Geomys spp.) are solitary, root-eating fossorial rodents native to North and Central American grasslands and are presumed to acquire most of their food through excavation of tunnels maintained as part of tunnel systems up to 160 m long¹^,². Given that burrowing is 360-3,400 times more energetically costly than surface walking, pocket gophers have high energy requirements³. Roots are scarce at the depths of their tunnels in the sandy soil of our study site (20-64 cm), but here we describe a novel food source for southeastern pocket gophers (Geomys pinetis, hereafter gophers): roots that grow into their tunnels. These roots could supply an average of 21% but up to 62% of their daily basal energetic needs.

MeSH terms

Animals
Gophers*
Rodentia
Soil

Substances

Soil