A wide variety of wildlife depends on the longleaf pine-turkey oak ecosystem. Fire plays a major role in the development of this community, and is essential to the survival of certain wildlife species, too.

Gopher tortoises, Florida mice, gopher frogs, and eastern diamond-back rattlesnakes are among the native animals in the ecosystem. Endangered species such as red-cockaded woodpeckers and indigo snakes are threatened by the loss of the longleaf pine habitat. The seeds are an excellent food source for squirrels, turkey, quail, and brown-headed nuthatches.