How is restoration improved by research on alligators and crocodiles?

Poster presented May 1999, at the South Florida Restoration Science Forum

By: Frank Mazzotti, UFL, Everglades Research & Education Center, Ken Rice, USGS and H. Franklin Percival, USGS

[ Biographies ]

Alligators and crocodiles are keystone species in the Everglades ecosystem serving as indicators of the ecological health and condition of the system. Research includes population and nesting studies, radio telemetry to determine home ranges and thermoregulation of individuals, and habitat studies such as the role of alligator holes in the Everglades landscape.

Why are they important to the Everglades?

Cross section of alligator hole	Photo of alligator hole
Everglades Alligator Hole

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Implications

• Alligators are a keystone species in the Everglades ecosystem.
• Alligator holes provide habitat for plants and animals and link a number of Everglades ecology projects.
• Dependence of American crocodiles on a healthy estuary makes them a keystone species linking freshwater and saltwater ecosystems of the Everglades and Florida Bay.
• Ecosystem management for crocodiles will benefit other species dependent on a healthy estuary.

What is the health and condition of alligators and crocodiles in the Everglades Ecosystem?

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Crocodile nests in ENP

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Absent from Biscayne Bay in the 1970s, crocodiles now occur from US 1 to Key Biscayne

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• Alligators are not doing well in the southern Everglades.
• They have higher mercury levels, lower growth rates, longer age to maturity, and smaller clutch sizes than alligators elsewhere.
• The American crocodile is an endangered species success story in progress.
• There are more crocodiles in more places now than 20 years ago.

Related Links

• Across Trophic Level System Simulation (ATLSS) project page (from the SOFIA website)
• Across Trophic Level System Simulation (ATLSS) Homepage

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