DOI: 10.25497/d77c72
title: RECOVER MAP 3.1.3.15 and 3.1.3.16 American Alligator and Crocodile

description: 3.1.3.15 American Alligator Distribution, Size, Nesting, and Hole Occupancy
The American alligator will be monitored using three approaches in the Greater Everglades Wetlands, each to determine if populations are recovering in expected ways as CERP is implemented. Methodologies are described in Rice et al. (2004 in press). The recovery of a healthy range of alligator size classes and condition throughout the system, including increased occupancy on mangrove creeks, will be monitored by surveys at the end of the wet season and throughout the dry season. Eye shine surveys of freshwater wetlands will be supplemented by aerial and ground surveys of coastal creeks during September and throughout the dry season. Alligators will be captured, weighed, and measured in October and March-April. Survey and capture locations will be a combination of fixed and randomly selected routes in regions and cells where landscape patterns and marsh fish populations are monitored. Capture areas and survey areas will not overlap during a given sampling period. Alligator parameters will include the number of alligators per kilometer, size class distribution, and body condition of alligators greater than one meter in length. Habitat parameters will include water level, temperature, salinity, and vegetation type. The return of reproducing alligator populations to the southern marl prairies and mangrove estuaries, while maintaining alligator nesting in Shark River Slough, will be monitored by systematic
reconnaissance flight surveys supplemented by aerial surveys and ground checks. Annual systematicreconnaissance flight surveys will be flown throughout Everglades National Park in July. Systematic reconnaissance flight methodology is described above for monitoring wading bird foraging. The number of alligator nests and the number of successful nests will be measured in addition to water level, salinity, and vegetation type. Occupancy rate of alligator holes (with a goal of 75-100 percent occupation) and an increase in the number and distribution of alligator holes in areas of low density will be monitored by mapping alligator holes in combination with occupancy checks. The number and distribution of alligator holes will be mapped every three years in the regions and cells where landscape patterns and fish populations are monitored, using the aerial photography acquired for vegetation mapping. The number of mapped holes occupied by alligators 1.8 meters or longer will be monitored annually in a random sample of holes using helicopter and airboat surveys.

3.1.3.16 American Crocodile Juvenile Growth and Survival
American crocodile surveys will be conducted using methodologies described in Mazzotti and Cherkiss (2002). Surveys for crocodile nests will be conducted April through August in Biscayne Bay and Florida Bay from Crandon Park to Shark River. Nests will be monitored through incubation, and hatchlings will be captured, measured, and marked upon emergence. Surveys and captures of juvenile crocodiles will be conducted four times a year in the same areas (early nesting, late nesting, and twice in the winter dry season). All animals will be weighed, measured, sexed, and given an individual mark. Location (using a global positioning system), salinity, and temperature will be recorded at each capture.