geer > 2000 > poster > the effects of canals on alligators in the everglades
The Effects of Canals on Alligators in the EvergladesPoster presented December 2000, at the Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Conference Matthew D. Chopp1, Kenneth G. Rice2, Frank J. Mazzotti3, H. Franklin Percival1 [ Disclaimer ] Abstract
Introduction
Restoration planning is currently underway for the Everglades under the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. A major unanswered question involves landscape decompartmentalization effects on wildlife populations. Our research demonstrates the effects of canal habitats on alligator populations. This information can be used directly to make restoration and management decisions, and indirectly through Across-Trophic Level System Simulation (ATLSS) model inputs and parameter estimates. It has been accepted that the cumulative effects of annual flood and drought cycles in the altered Everglades system has negatively impacted alligator populations. The altered Everglades also contains hundreds of kilometers of canals. The extent to which canal presence has altered the habitats and reproductive parameters of the "keystone" alligator in this system is not fully understood (SFERT Science Subgroup 1997). ObjectivesIn this research we address the effects that canal habitats have on alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) population ecology. Research objectives included understanding the following in canal and natural marsh habitats:
AcknowledgementsThis research was supported in significant part by DOI's Critical Ecosystem Studies Initiative, a special funding initiative for Everglades restoration administered by the National Park Service; and in part by USGS's Florida Caribbean Science Center. We would like to thank Mark Campbell, Adam Finger, Tori Foster, Phillip George, Stan Howarter, Corey Morea, Michelle Palmer, Travis Tuten, and Christa Zweig for technical and field work assistance. Laura Brandt and Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Nat Frazer, Debra Hughes, Barbara Fesler, and Alan Woodward provided advice and logistical support. Literature CitedMazzotti, F. J., L. A. Brandt, M. R. Campbell, and M. Palmer. 1999. An Ecological Characterization of Everglades Alligator Holes. Final Annual Report to Everglades Agricultural Area Environmental Protection District, NFW. UF-IFAS, Belle Glade, FL. 82 pp. South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Taskforce, Science Subgroup. 1997. Ecologic and precursor success criteria for south Florida ecosystem restoration. A report to the working group of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, Chapter 12.
Click here for a printable version of this poster (note: document will open in a new browser window) Related information: SOFIA Project: Compilation of Alligator Data Sets in South Florida for Restoration Needs |
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
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