While much of the research focus in Florida Bay is on the quality and movement of water, the fact that some of the world's most endangered species inhabit the bay has not been forgotten. In fact, not only are efforts underway to help protect these creatures, scientists are also examining what they can learn about the condition of the bay by observing the behavior of the animals that think of Florida Bay as their home. In fact, the southern Everglades and Florida Bay represent the last wild habitat for this creature. To do that, it's essential to understand how the various restoration efforts proposed for the bay will affect crocodiles.
Salinity influences what area of the bay they occur in and where they build their nests.
The location of the nests is related to the success of the nests and the survival of the hatchlings. Needless to say, suggestions that many of the bay's problems could be solved by altering the salinity are of major concern to Mazzotti. To help ensure that the crocodiles are factored into any plan for restoring the bay, he is monitoring them for the Corps of Engineers and collecting detailed data on crocodile growth and survival. Another monitoring project, this one conducted by the Everglades National Park's Skip Snow, is looking at the behavior of manatees, dolphins, and sea turtles to see if their activities might provide clues to detecting changes in the quality of Florida Bay. This may be particularly true for manatees.