Plains pocket gopher, Geomys bursarius, a grassland inhabitant, is common among the mammal taxa identified on the southeast Ozark margin at the Lepold site, 23RI59, Ripley County, Missouri. Its presence throughout the midden depth, whether an incidental inclusion or human prey, implies that a favorable habitat existed in the immediate vicinity. As radiocarbon dates indicate midden deposition began about 7500 radiocarbon years before present, grassland was a component of the local vegetation beginning in the middle Holocene, if not before.

Turtle taxa represented at Lepold site 23RI59 in southeastern Missouri, USA provide a record of environmental conditions spanning the Middle Holocene. Identified turtle taxa show that open water was present between 7500 and 4000 radiocarbon years ago. Aquatic resources seem to be more intensively exploited beginning about 6300 years ago, about 1200 years after intensive occupation of the site had begun. The observed turtle taxon composition is consistent with the presence of a floodplain with shallow, seasonal, overflow ponds, but with riverine and upland habitats also being represented.