Because their burrows provide a home and refuge for the tortoise and a wide variety of animal and insect species, gopher tortoises are considered "keystone species", Providing a backbone to the plant and wildlife community in which it lives. Without the tortoise, the populations of more than 350 wildlife species who seek refuge or live in the burrows would be greatly reduced, if not eliminated. These species that depend upon tortoise burrows are called commensals and include the indigo snake, pine snake, gopher frog, opossum, burrowing owl, Florida mouse, gopher cricket and scarab beetle.

Gopher tortoises occur throughout Florida, but they prefer high, dry, sandy places such as longleaf pine and xeric oak sandhills. They also live in scrub, xeric hammock, pine flatwoods, dry prairie, coastal grasslands and dunes, mixed hardwood-pine communities, and a variety of disturbed habitats, such as pasture lands.

Gopher tortoises graze naturally on a wide variety of plant types including broadleaf grasses, wiregrass, prickly pear cactus, wild grape, blackberry, blueberry, beautyberry and many more. They generally feed within about 165 feet of their burrows, but they have been known to range more than twice that distance to meet their foraging and nutritional needs.

They typically feed year round, during the coolest part of the day in summer and warmest part of the day in winter. During the coldest winter days, they may not emerge from their burrows at all.

In Florida, gopher tortoises have recently been listed as threatened, one step below endangered. Their population decline is due to loss of habitat and earlier declines due to hunting for food.