ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

 I am very grateful to Dr. J. Perran Ross who made it possible for me to be

involved in such an amazing project. Dr. Ross was always patient and provided

encouragement when needed. He taught me many things that will stay with me

throughout my career. My parents, John and LeeLonee Rice, graciously supported me

throughout my graduate work. Their support and earlier guidance gave me what I needed

to be successful. My other committee members, Dr. H. Franklin Percival and Dr. Mike S

Allen, both contributed to my success during my graduate work.

 Many people helped me learn the necessary skills to handle this job. Notable

among them were P. Ross, Allan "Woody" Woodward, Chris Tubbs, Dwayne

Carbonneau, Arnold Brunnell, Chris Visscher, and John White. Woody Woodward was

especially helpful with understanding basic alligator ecology and with fieldwork. Field

techs C. Tubbs, Esther Langan, Rick Owen, Jeremy Olson, and Chad Rischar were

essential to the proj ect. Many great volunteers helped late into the night catching and

lavaging alligators.

 The Florida Museum of Natural History's (FLMNH) ornithology, mammology,

ichthyology, herpetology, and zoo archaeology collection managers and their reference

collections were invaluable with species identification. My lab assistants E Langan,

Anthony Reppas, and Patricia Gomez were all very helpful in painstakingly sorting

through the stomach samples. Richard Franz, Mark Robertson, Dr. Kenny Krisko,

Cameron Carter, Rob Robbins, Christa Zweig, Jamie Duberstein, and Hardin Waddle