Clemson University’s South Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit will begin satellite tracking alligators in the state’s coastal plain as part of a study to gain greater understanding of their population numbers, movement and ecology.
The satellite tracking is the next phase of a study to provide scientific support for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources as it designs a long-term adaptive alligator harvesting strategy.
The researchers will track the alligators by GPS to understand how landscape features affect habitat use and how their movement between habitats influences the accuracy of population estimates.
The state currently uses a nightlight survey design based on monitoring programs in Florida and Louisiana. Wildlife managers shine spotlights into waterways and wetlands, count eye reflection and estimate alligator size by approximating the distance from eyes to snout tip.
But what works for Louisiana and Florida might not be best for counting alligators in South Carolina’s complex and varied alligator habitat, says Dr. Katherine McFadden, assistant unit leader of the South Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and Assistant Professor in Clemson’s School of Agricultural, Forest and Environmental Sciences.
“South Carolina alligator habitat is very diverse. It includes tidal marshes, wooded swamps, rivers, lakes, farm ponds, and manmade freshwater impoundments managed for waterfowl. A lot of these places can’t be reached by nightlight surveys or require different monitoring techniques,” McFadden said.
This is the first time male alligator movement has been tracked in South Carolina and is believed to be the northernmost alligator movement study within the alligator’s home range.
“Understanding annual and seasonal variation in movement and abundance patterns will enable us to devise a monitoring strategy that is specifically tailored to South Carolina’s unique habitat,” said Abby Lawson, a Clemson doctoral student who is studying alligator population ecology.
The researchers chose the Santee Delta region because it contains multiple nightlight survey routes already monitored by the Department of Natural Resources and encompasses the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center, managed by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. The Yawkey Center’s status as a wildlife sanctuary will allow the researchers to compare data between open and closed hunting areas.
Clemson’s Belle W. Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science and the Yawkey Center recently announced a coastal ecology research partnership.
The Department of Natural Resources manages alligators as a valuable renewable resource and currently issues 4,400 alligator harvesting permits among four alligator management units per year under the Public Alligator Harvest Program for use during a season that runs from the second Saturday in September to the second Saturday in October.
“South Carolina benefits both ecologically and economically from its alligators. It’s important to accurately estimate populations so we can make informed conservation and management decisions,” McFadden said.