Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Harley, Heidi

Area of Concentration

Environmental Studies

Abstract

Anthropogenic presences and influence spread into wildlife spaces and can negatively affect species living in areas that were previously less disturbed. In this thesis, a study was conducted in which the flight initiation distances and flushing behaviors of American alligators in a wild-living congregation within the Myakka River State Park Wilderness Preserve, an area within a state park in Southern Florida, were measured and analyzed. Flight initiation distances in reptiles are an important component of population risk assessment, which influences wildlife management decisions, that often goes understudied in these species. Potential negative effects of an increased human presence in wild areas include habituation, human-wildlife conflict, and potential decreased fitness in local species. This study aimed to determine the flight initiation distance for alligators within the Myakka “Deep Hole” congregation as a baseline for alligator populations in wild freshwater sites which are regularly visited by humans. Over the course of 84 hours of data collection, of 212 alligators performing flushing behaviors, 202 (95.28%) were flushed by direct human approach. 84.43% of flushing behaviors displaced alligators from basking platforms, where alligators perform thermoregulatory behavior. The average flight initiation distance for this population was 12.54 m. The number of humans approaching before flushing occurred is significantly correlated with greater flight initiation distances. To protect alligators, visitors of wild alligator congregations should not congregate in groups and should keep their distance (at least 13 m) from the animals. Education on preventive measures of flushing could serve to reduce human-alligator disturbances at this site in the future.

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