Everglades Alligator Importance

Protecting the Everglades:

Beautiful Everglades - Coot Bay

Question and Answer written by a 5th grader - Sharing her view on Importance of Alligator for survival of Everglades

Question – What would happen if there were no alligators left in the Everglades?

Answer:

Snap! Snap! In the one and only Florida Everglades, the sharp sound of an alligator rapidly snapping up its caught prey, is relatively common. One is left to think of what would happen if the beautifully wild everglades lost all of its plentiful reptilian alligators. The answer to that question may just be determinable.

First of all, without alligators, many vital habitats would not even exist. They create deep depressions that eventually fill to the brim with a mixture of salt and freshwater to form brackish water. The holes become residences for marine life such as young bonefish and shrimp. Also, there are abundant aquatic animals that are attracted to these holes during the dry season, which lasts from December to April. The depressions provide refuge for them when the winter becomes frigid and extremely dry. Additionally, endangered species use the alligator’s valuable holes to lay their eggs. More of the species can then survive in the Everglades. Without alligators, these species would be in severe danger of extinction.

-

Secondly, without alligators, the food chain would be out of balance. Say that a type of fish eats grasses and algae in a mangrove swamp.  Then an American alligator eats the fish. This is a quick example of the food web. Without the alligators as the predators of the fish, the fish would become over populated. Alligators are essential to the national park for the reason of regulating the steady flow of petite food consumers such as fish, turtles, small –scale birds, and reptiles. The circle of life requires all plants and animals to be in order, and without alligators, we would have too much of one thing and too little of another. The Everglades is in dire need of the alligator’s predatory services in its ecosystem. 

Finally the American alligator is considered a cornerstone species in the national park. Without the reptiles, the diverse ecosystem could not survive. The Everglades would just be an ordinary plot of land. The nesting of alligators is necessary for peat formation. Without peat, many animals and especially plants would not exist in the park. Also, alligator holes fill with brackish waters I(that was mentioned in my essay before) which produce crucial areas for vegetation to grow. If alligators completely diminish, the Everglades would lose it uniqueness.

As you can see, alligators are probably one of the most precious animals for this natural park. Habitats, food chains and the formation of the Everglades depend on this one species. If the Everglades lost of all of its alligators, it wouldn’t exist, but thankfully, there are still a lot of them left!

Her poem about Bird's spot while on 4th grade.

Apart from alligator importance,

It is  incomprehensible to read about killings of fellow human beings all over the World.
Praying and hoping for positive, peaceful and prosperous 2015 -
Happy New Year.