Modeling Fog Oil Obscurant Smoke Penetration into Simulated Tortoise Burrows; Conference paper

摘要

The gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus), found on many military installations, is threatened in its westernmost distribution and at risk everywhere else. On installations where troop readiness training is conducted, an important component of realistic troop readiness training is the generation of obscurant material and the conduct of maneuvers under obscurant cover. Fog oil has long been deployed for visual obscuration training, and the effect of such obscurants on this species is unknown. As a preliminary step prior to instituting toxicological studies, a laboratory simulation was performed of the capability of the fog oil smoke to penetrate the burrow of the gopher tortoise. The fog oil smoke did not enter the simulated tortoise burrow in significant concentrations. This suggests that tortoise burrows do not need to be studied in situ, and that tortoises may be considered protected while in the burrow.