CHAPTER 1
 INTTRODUCTION

 Understanding the diet of crocodilians is important because diet affects condition,

behavior, growth, and reproduction (Chabreck 1972, Delany and Abercrombie 1986).

Many crocodilian food habits studies have been conducted (Fogarty and Albury 1968,

Chabreck 1972, Valentine et al. 1972, Taylor 1979, Webb et al. 1982, Delany and

Abercrombie 1986, Taylor 1986, Magnusson et al. 1987, Wolfe et al. 1987, Delany et al.

1988, Delany 1990, Platt et al. 1990, Webb et al. 1991, Thorbjarnarson 1993, Barr 1994,

Santos et al. 1996, Tucker et al. 1996, Barr 1997, Delany et al. 1999, Silveira and

Magnusson 1999, Platt et al. 2002, Pauwels et al. 2003). Diet explains much about

predator-prey interactions and prey utilization among habitats. This allows managers to

better assess the importance of crocodilians in the ecosystem. In this study, I compared

the diet and condition of adult American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) among

populations from three central Florida lakes, Griffin, Apopka, and Woodrufff

 American alligators inhabit fresh and brackish wetlands throughout their range in

the southeastern United States including all of Florida. American alligators are

considered a species of special concern in Florida, are listed federally as threatened due

to similarity of appearance because of their resemblance to the endangered American

crocodile (Crocodylus acutus), and are listed under CITES Appendix II (Ross 1998).

 Condition analyses provide scientists with an easy mechanism to explore the

health of a species in its ecosystem (Murphy et al. 1990). Taylor (1979, p 349) defined

condition as "the relative fatness of the crocodile, or how much its food intake exceeds