Wild Lecture Series - December 2024

Florida’s upland ecosystems are being lost to development at an alarming rate, putting extra pressure on the threatened species that depend upon these habitats. Neal Halstead, Research Director at Wildlands Conservation (a Tampa-based nonprofit organization) will highlight research and conservation efforts in these habitats, with a focus on the state-threatened gopher tortoise and two federally-threatened lizards: the Florida sand skink and the blue-tailed mole skink. Gopher tortoises are a widespread, but threatened, species whose long life spans present unique conservation challenges to maintain healthy populations. Neal will present research on the scope of gopher tortoise translocations throughout Florida, conservation issues associated with translocation, and highlight the new gopher tortoise specialty license plate that will help raise funds to improve conservation outcomes for tortoises and upland habitats in general. Florida sand skinks and blue-tailed mole skinks are two closely-related lizard species who are restricted to scrub and sandhill habitats along Florida’s central ridges. Neal will discuss research associated with better understanding the current status of these species and conservation efforts that have been successful for protection of their populations.