Latest news with #SoutheasternLouisianaUniversity
American Press
20-06-2025
- Sport
- American Press
East's game trending north, carries momentum, new putter into City Championship
Southeastern Louisiana University sophomore Landen East lost at the Louisiana Amateur Championship earlier this month in a sudden death playoff and will go for his first Lake Charles City Championship this weekend. (Southeastern Louisiana University/Special to the American Press) Like baseball and the home run, golf has become more about the booming drive off the tee box in recent years. But to Southeastern Louisiana University sophomore golfer Landen East, success only comes when you can put the ball in the hole. 'You can't shoot low scores if you are not getting it in the hole,' East said. That philosophy has guided his search the last couple of years to find the right putter with the right feel that allowed him to strike the ball with pinpoint accuracy. A couple of months ago, the former Sulphur High School standout picked up a new Ping PLD Milled Anser 30 blade putter and almost won the 106th Louisiana Amateur Championship and almost made the cut at the U.S. Amateur qualifying tournament in the last few weeks. 'I have been putting great,' East said. 'I have probably been putting the best in my life here recently. 'Obviously I am hitting the ball well. Ever since I switched to (the new putter), I have loved it. I don't see myself putting with anything else.' And he looks to carry that success into the Lake Charles City Championship today at Mallard Golf Club. The first group in the championship flight will tee off at 1 p.m. He previously used a Scotty Cameron Platinum Pro for a few months and a Ping mallet putter for two or three years before that. He averaged 75 a round in his sophomore season at SLU. 'I felt like my speed was off,' East said. 'I would get one that I felt that I hit good, and it would roll 6 or 7 feet past the hole. 'I grew up playing a blade and decided to make the switch back, and then I finally found the one that I really like in the new Ping. I switched to it because it is a little bit more face-balanced than the previous blade I had. It helps me keep the face a little more stable. It sets up well, and my speed control is better. That other club was a lighter head, but this heavier head is better for me.' At the state amateur tournament played June 5-8 at Bayou Oaks at City Park in New Orleans, East shot in the 60s in three of four rounds before losing to Shreveport's Connor Cassano, who plays at LSU by way of Loyola Prep, on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff. A key point in the final round allowed East to catch up to Cassano. After a bogey on the 13th hole, East knocked in a 35-foot putt for a birdie on the long par-3 No. 14 and played the final five holes at 3 under to force the playoff. He was 19 under for the tournament. At the U.S. Amateur qualifier, East shot a 69, missing the qualifying cut by one stroke. In his last five rounds, East has three-putted twice. East said there is little room for error at Mallard, especially on the greens. 'At Mallard, you can get away with a couple of errant tee shots, and you can get away with a couple of bad shots,' East said. 'But I feel the player that is going to win is going to limit their mistakes and going to try not to three-putt and make doubles. 'I feel like holing putts for par, making a few more birdies here and there, attributes a lot to being able to win the tournament.' He won the Sulphur City Championship last year and Westlake in 2022 and looks to win his first Lake Charles City Championship and join an elite group — Neithan Allen, Hank Shaheen, Matt Nicholas — who have won all three. 'It would be pretty cool to be a member of that club,' East said. East will be up against multiple past champions, including Nicholas, Blake DeReese, Gage Primeaux, Jacob Lejeune and Billy Gabbert. 'There are a lot of good players,' East said. 'I feel like I have a great chance, and I have proved that to myself.'
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists find ‘alarming' levels of toxic metals, pollution in Lake Maurepas
Cypress trees remain in the wetlands and swamps of Lake Maurepas. (Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator) Scientists at Southeastern Louisiana University have found dangerously high levels of toxic metals and other contaminants in Lake Maurepas and have traced most of the pollution to industrial and other human activities. Led by SLU chemistry professor Fereshteh Emami, a team of researchers analyzed 400 water and sediment samples collected from multiple locations and depths in the lake from June through December 2023 and developed new methodologies to trace the origin of the pollutants, track how they spread and determine the factors that make them worse. The results were 'alarming,' according to the study, which was published in Environments in November and accepted for publication in another scientific journal, ACS Omega, this month. The analysis revealed concentrations of heavy metals and nutrients far beyond the thresholds the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe. Arsenic levels peaked at 420% above the safe limit for lakes and 6,300% over the EPA's drinking water threshold. Lead and cadmium were detected at similarly high levels averaging orders of magnitude above safe limits. Nickel, copper, and manganese concentrations were also observed above their respective safety thresholds. Heavy metal exposure is known to cause severe health problems and can be fatal to humans. 'I was just surprised how polluted the area is,' Emami said in an interview. Emami's team at Southeastern developed new methodologies that allowed them to trace the pollutants to Pass Manchac and three rivers that feed into Lake Maurepas: the Blind, Amite and Tickfaw. It indicated that industrial and agricultural activities are major sources of the pollution. The researchers also detected a spike in contaminants near Pass Manchac following the Oct. 23, 2023, 'super-fog' multi-vehicle pileup on Interstate 55, indicating that toxic chemicals from combustion vehicles are also running off into the lake. The heavy metal concentrations found in Lake Maurepas are similar to those later detected following breaks in the waste containment levees at the Atlantic Alumina (Atalco) facility in Gramercy last year. Atalco's toxic metals — which also included arsenic, cadmium and lead, among others — ended up in a public drainage system that flows into the Blind River Swamp of Lake Maurepas. Although Emami's new methodologies did not trace the pollutants to specific facilities, news of the Atalco incident brought to light a previously unknown event that aligns with their findings, at least anecdotally, Emami said. More sampling and analysis is needed deeper upstream into those rivers in order to further narrow down the sources, she said. The researchers found other contaminants in the lake, including high levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and a parameter called chemical oxygen demand, which indicates the presence of organic pollutants in water. According to the study, all three parameters were elevated at averages beyond what is considered safe. Their methodologies traced these pollutants to urban runoff and agriculture. The samples contained other toxic metals, such as mercury, at levels that were within safe limits. But the study noted they still pose a threat to humans and the environment through bioaccumulation, in which low doses of a heavy metal can amass in a living organism over time and add up to a dangerous level. 'Because of the non-biodegradable and bioaccumulative nature of these heavy metals, they could accumulate and biomagnify in fish and other aquatic animals,' the researchers wrote. 'As a result, they could enter the human body eventually through the food chain.' Emami said mercury is particularly dangerous because it easily bioaccumulates in crops and animals such as fish. Her team is conducting a follow-up study in which they are testing aquatic samples from Lake Maurepas and surrounding rivers for heavy metals and other contaminants such as polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as 'forever chemicals.' Corinne Gibb, a chemist who works for the environmental advocacy Louisiana Bucket Brigade and was not involved in the study, said the research very clearly points to pollution that is flowing into Lake Maurepas from other water bodies. 'What they're showing for sure is that the pollution is coming through those rivers,' Gibb said. A Louisiana refinery spilled toxic waste into the community and knew about it for months Southeastern has been monitoring Lake Maurepas since the proposal of a carbon sequestration project by Air Products & Chemicals. The company plans to use carbon capture technology to trap emissions from an $8 billion hydrogen manufacturing complex in Ascension Parish and take them by pipeline to Lake Maurepas, where Air Products will have the capacity to inject an estimated 5 million tons of CO2 per year about a mile below the lakebed. In the first half of 2023, Air Products performed seismic testing to map the geological formations under the lake. In August of that year, the company moved a large temporary drilling rig into Lake Maurepas that served as a test well for the collection of core and fluid data, which ended in early 2024. Emami's team initially suspected but were ultimately unable to link any chemical pollutants to Air Products' activity in the lake. Aside from providing a multi-million dollar funding grant, the company played no role in any aspects of the study, its design or the decision to publish the results. 'We're committed to protecting the Lake Maurepas environment and ecosystem, which is why we have supported the independent monitoring of the Lake,' Air Products spokeswoman Christina Stephens said Wednesday after learning about the SLU study's findings. 'It's important for people to understand the lake's ecosystem, and as our work progresses we will continue to operate in a safe and responsible fashion.' That still doesn't assuage concerns of some local lawmakers. Rep. Kim Coates, R-Ponchatoula, who ran for office on a platform of protecting Lake Maurepas, pointed out the study shows the baseline water quality of the lake is already deeply concerning and could be made worse with general disturbances that accompany lakebed drilling and similar industrial activities. 'Adding deep geological carbon sequestration to an ecosystem already under strain from nutrient pollution raises serious questions,' Coates said. 'Even well-intentioned projects can have unintended consequences in such a delicate and dynamic environment. Until more is known, extreme caution is not just warranted — it's essential.' SLU's study is the first of its kind to combine dynamic statistical models with water quality data to trace pollutant sources and their driving factors. This allowed Emami's team to provide a comprehensive assessment of the chemical composition of Lake Maurepas based on a wide array of data. The methodology can also be used to predict when and where pollutants will flow or migrate to other areas, she said. 'Using the models, we were looking for the origins of the pollutant sources, and I wanted to know if the pollution sources in the Blind River could [let us] predict what was gonna show up in Manchac,' Emami said. 'And it did.' Emami said Pass Manchac's significant tidal exchange between Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain has allowed her team to conclude that the water quality and levels of pollution between the two estuaries are virtually the same. Until the start of Southeastern's research, there was no ongoing public monitoring for toxic metals in Lake Maurepas. Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality spokesman Matthew Day said the public should be aware of existing fish consumption advisories, such as one issued last year for Lake Maurepas based on elevated mercury levels detected in fish tissue. However, the agency does not conduct any regular heavy metal monitoring in Lake Maurepas because it is not required under Clean Water Act obligations, Day said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
USA Today
13-06-2025
- Science
- USA Today
Alligators: Our apex predator allies against climate change
Alligators: Our apex predator allies against climate change | The Excerpt On a special episode (first released on June 11, 2025) of The Excerpt podcast: The story of the American alligator is one of survival. From 1967 to 1987, they were officially listed as an endangered species. But the wetlands of Louisiana, Florida's Everglades National Park and many other southern habitats are now teeming with roughly five million alligators. And their story continues to evolve. Recent studies suggest alligators shape how carbon is stored in soil. Could alligators be an unexpected ally in the fight against climate change? Christopher Murray, Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Southeastern Louisiana University, joins The Excerpt to share insights from his recent study published in Nature. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to podcasts@ Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here Dana Taylor: Hello and welcome to The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. The story of the American alligator is one of survival. From 1967 to 1987, they were officially listed as an endangered species, but the wetlands of Louisiana, Florida's Everglades National Park, and many other southern habitats are now teeming with roughly 5 million alligators, and their story continues to evolve. Recent studies suggest alligators shape how carbon is stored in soil. Could alligators be an unexpected ally in the fight against climate change? Here to share insights from his recent study published in Nature is Christopher Murray, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Southeastern Louisiana University. Thanks for joining me, Chris. Chris Murray: Of course. Dana Taylor: Before we tie your findings to alligators, what story unfolded when you looked at soil in areas populated by alligators? Chris Murray: Yeah, so the story that we sort of uncovered was really interesting to us and a little bit surprising. What we found was a correlation, positive correlation between alligator abundance and carbon sequestration in specific habitats. So what that effectively means is, where we have more alligators, from small populations to much larger populations, we actually see a positive relationship, positive correlation between alligator abundance and carbon sequestration. And this is purely correlative at this stage, but what this essentially rests on is trophic cascade theory. Trophic cascade theory sounds a little nerdy, but what it essentially means is that where we have more apex predators in the habitat, they do a better job at eating the things that eat the plants that do the carbon sequestration. That trophic cascade theory, of course, is not my work. It's been thrown around in really high-end journals for some time. I read a paper by Dr. Trisha Atwood at Utah State in Nature Climate Change and kind of got the idea, hey, I wonder if this Blue Carbon marine hypothesis will sort of show or tell the same story in our tidally inundated coastal wetlands with the American alligator? Dana Taylor: And speaking of wetlands, what's the potential climate impact here if the wetlands they inhabit dry out? Chris Murray: Really the issue isn't them drying out. In the case of Louisiana, the issue is actually them sort of going underwater. Louisiana is one of the states where we see a very rapid rise in sea level associated with climate change. But what's interesting is that our tidally inundated wetlands are one of the most critical and effective carbon stock habitat in the world, with around 40% of them actually persisting in coastal southeastern United States. So what we have here is a situation where we've got really good habitat for carbon sequestration and an apex predator that, at least at this point, correlates with higher carbon sequestration rates in that habitat. So the ramifications from a conservation or environmental standpoint are pretty serious, in my eyes. Dana Taylor: Prior to this study, what was already known about how alligators reshape the land and water around them? Chris Murray: Most of the work on ecosystem functionality in the context of the American alligator actually comes from the Everglades, like you mentioned. We know there, from a lot of work from a lot of other alligator biologists, really good work in South Florida, that they actually do sort of environmental mechanical engineering. They orchestrate these wallow ponds where, when the Everglades is dry during the dry season, these ponds that alligators actually help construct hold water and serve as aquatic refugia, a place where animals that need water and plants can go to seek water during harsher periods of the season. Dana Taylor: What do you think would happen to those ecosystems if alligators weren't there? Chris Murray: Yeah, see, that's the interesting thing, where science sort of comes into play here. Right now, I mean, speaking about simply Louisiana and other coastal tidal wetlands, really talking about not the Everglades, we have correlative data. So our next task is to prove causality. This is a lot of nerd talk, but this is how science has to work. We have a relationship right now, a pattern right now that we see. Now the next stage is to say, "Okay, alligators are causally responsible for the effect that we saw when we looked at the correlation in the paper that you're referencing." So if alligators aren't there, my hypothesis is that carbon sequestration rates would lower, meaning more CO2 would be emitted into the atmosphere. Or in the case of the Everglades, maybe we wouldn't get these aquatic refugia, these water islands that animals can go to, and we may see losses in biodiversity in that context. The other thing about Louisiana and other tidally inundated coastal wetlands that are inhabited by the American alligator is, what happens to all these invasive species when the alligators aren't there? Feral hogs, right? Or nutria rats. These things are really good at eating plants. So my hypothesis is that if alligators all of a sudden vanished, we would get high populations of these herbivores that eat the plants and we may see decreased carbon sequestration in those areas because the plants that are good at sequestering carbon are being eaten by things that really aren't participating very well in ecosystem functionality. Potentially more harm than good. Dana Taylor: Chris, was there anything in your research that surprised you? Chris Murray: My original hypothesis was that, well, where there's alligators, we're going to see more carbon sequestration as a function of trophic cascade theory. Looking back on those data and finding that there's no difference between where alligators naturally persist and where they don't, places like Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, it became obvious to me later on that there's a different apex predator that is working in those habitats. So originally I was surprised by that finding, but looking back at it, just having a cursory understanding of ecosystem functionality and community structure, there's a different participant outside of the alligators by geographic range. So surprised me initially, but then it was sort of a no duh moment. Dana Taylor: I want to turn now to the commercial alligator industry. There was a time when the American alligator was near extinction. Can you take us through the journey of protecting the species from extinction to having an industry that sells alligator meat and hides? How is this a success story in terms of conservation? Chris Murray: Yeah, it's interesting. I'm a conservation biologist, right? I'm an ecologist. I do some evolutionary biology. And to think that someone in my profession would lean on or at least be positively influenced by an industry, I think, is a little bit of a unique phenomenon. But what we saw and what we continue to see is that the natural resource of the American alligator not only saved the American alligator from extinction, specifically here in Louisiana I can speak to the best, it saved the American alligator from extinction from harvest, recreational harvest that really had no limitation, that dwindled numbers way, way down to a dangerous degree, especially from a genetic standpoint. What we saw was that biologists and governments put together a strategy to monetize a natural resource. And what this ultimately culminated in was one of the most effective ecological head-starting programs that really has ever existed. The system functions by taking eggs and incubating them, and then returning a portion of the population at a head-started age or size. We see this a lot in endangered species where we like to take some animals that are used in the laboratory to breed, and then we raise them up to a degree where their survivorship is a little bit enhanced, and then we re-release them. Well, what happened here in Louisiana and across the southeast was that this head-starting program became part of the economy, right? And it continues to be part of the economy, where what we see is, we have the exact same structure, right? Eggs are taken, they're hatched out, they're raised up to a size, and a portion is put back. This not only saved the American alligator from extinction, but as some of the research that we're talking about here today, it actually may have far broader environmental positive consequences that we're just now beginning to look into across the broad range of the American alligator. Dana Taylor: I was hoping to see drone footage of your team at work in the field, but there's a reason why it isn't widely shared. This can be dangerous work, and others shouldn't be enticed or encouraged to attempt to do what your professional team does. Chris Murray: Right. Dana Taylor: What can you share about how you prep for doing work out in the field? Chris Murray: The one thing I need to do is learn to not wear shorts. I have a tendency to wear shorts in the field, and my legs come back all scratched up every summer. So that's something that my team, specifically me, is working on navigating. But the prep for the team, it sort of depends on the job. If we're interested in doing some nest monitoring work, the first step is finding the nests, right? And that can actually be really challenging across a vast wetland landscape. Then we have to get to the nests, and that's perhaps the most challenging part. The wetland is a dense jungle of phragmites and different types of grasses with some tree hammocks, and it can be very thick. So we essentially just utilize boats to arrive through navigable waterways as close as we can get, and then we walk. Most of our drone footage is actually from trying to guide the person walking to the nest in a habitat that they can't see more than a foot in front of their face. It's a lot of fun, but it can get pretty hot out there. Dana Taylor: Chris, what are your hopes regarding what your future research may prove, in terms of climate change, if alligator populations and the wetlands where they reside are properly protected? Chris Murray: The word prove is an interesting one, right? I think that's the next step, and that's my next hope, is to conclude some type of causality and test hypotheses from a causal perspective. Alligators are causing these ecosystem processes to occur at higher capacity or higher efficiency or higher rates. So my hopes are that this correlation that we've published leads to a better scientific understanding of what alligators do for the environment, from an ecosystem scale perspective. And I think in doing so, what we're actually doing is sort of telling chapter two of the alligator story, right? There were biologists that created the alligator industry to save the American alligator, and that worked. What I'm interested in doing with crocodilian colleagues around the US is to think about, okay, what else are alligators doing? And highlighting and elucidating, to science and to the world, that alligators are really important in ecosystem functionality. They're a good thing to have around, potentially in the face of land loss or climate change and other metrics that are important to us from a conservation perspective, like biodiversity. So my hope is to be able to share to the world and to science and to the public that alligators are not nuisances, right? Alligators are not scary. Of course, they command respect. They can get big and they can hurt, but it's better to mitigate human-crocodilian, in this case, human-alligator conflict, than it is to remove a nuisance because these animals are keeping the world a better place for us all to live in, potentially. So putting that story together, in summary, is my hope. Dana Taylor: Chris, it's wonderful to talk to you. Thanks for being on The Excerpt. Chris Murray: Of course. Thanks so much, Dana. Dana Taylor: Thanks to our senior producers Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan for their production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to Podcasts at Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor. Taylor Wilson will be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.
BBC News
19-04-2025
- BBC News
How alligators are breathing life into Florida's Everglades
The Everglades' eclectic alligators are surprisingly diverse builders, bodyguards, commuters, and health-bringing engineers. From the edge of the Miccosukee Indian Reservation, in the north of the Florida Everglades, it is a short fan-boat ride through grassy swamp to get to an island that 18-year-old Hector Tigertail's family visit each year. For decades, this family "hammock" – as the tree-covered islands that poke out from the Everglades are known – has been their retreat; a place where the family can camp, cook and hunt. But they share this particular island with at least one permanent resident: an American alligator that, at around 7ft (2.1m) from nose to tail, is the largest female he's ever seen. Tigertail's family, members of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, and this powerful reptile, which locals refer to as Mama Gator, have lived side by side for much of the 60-year-old animal's life, he explains. This intimate coexistence provides a chance to observe how alligators meticulously shape their surroundings. Through the dry season between December and May, she excavates a "gator pond" with her snout, claws and tail, a depression where water pools and she can wallow, keep cool and mate. At the start of the rainy season (from June to November), she builds a raised nest for her clutch of eggs, from mud, grass and twigs – a time when the humans know to keep a respectful distance from the protective mother. In return, for the next few years, they are often rewarded with the sight of Mama and her baby gators in tow. "We like to call her Mama Gator because she's everybody's grandma," says Tigertail. In recent years, scientific research is adding support to something Florida's Miccosukee Tribe have long known: alligators like Mama play vital roles as "guardians of the Everglades" and engineer their environment in ways that protect freshwater ecosystems. Alligators carry around nutrients that feed ecosystem webs, and their ponds and nests provide refuges where plants, fishand frogs live. New data hints that that alligators may also benefit us. "Apex predator or not, alligators are actually very helpful and they can change the ecosystem significantly," says Tigertail, who researches alligators for the Miccosukee Tribe's Fish and Wildlife Department. "During the dry season, a lot of animals – deer, fish, otters, turtles, birds – follow the alligators." For those like biologist Christopher Murray who has spent decades closely studying alligators, it's high time to move past their reputation as cold-hearted killers and recognise the varied roles they're playing as caring and constructive ecosystem engineers. While the cute, herbivorous beaver is widely celebrated for stewarding temperate wetlands, it is the "gnarly swamp monsters" who deserve plaudits in the southeastern United States and many other places, says Murray, associate professor at Southeastern Louisiana University. "I think we're just beginning to understand that crocodilians, in general, and specifically alligators, do a lot more good than we think." From near-extinction to mass appreciation Alligators are often called "living fossils", relatively untouched by major evolutionary changes for at least eight million years, with remarkably similar ancestors already hunting swamps alongside the dinosaurs. Yet, beginning in the 1850s, the arrival of rifle-wielding European settlers into the wetlands of Florida and Louisiana drove this evolutionary line to the verge of extinction. More than 10 million alligators were killed by commercial hunting up to the 1960s, driven by the popularity of their hides for bags, belts and boots, with others shot for sport or "just for fun" according to historical accounts. In 1967, American alligators were placed on endangered species lists, leading to nationwide hunting bans that allowed populations to recover. Today, the species is recognised as a standout conservation success story, as the population has rebounded to more than three million alligators estimated to live in the wild in the states of Florida and Louisiana, and thousands more spread across the south-eastern United States. Just as conservationists began fighting to save the species from extinction in the 1960s and 1970s, researchers began documenting their important ecological roles. In the wet season, the raised ridges around the edge of these nests are relatively dry land where some plants can escape flooding and provide platforms where smaller reptiles build their own nests. Meanwhile wading birds build their own nests above alligators, which act as "bodyguards", keeping raccoons and other predators away from the birds' eggs. (More recent research has shown that this is a macabre but overall mutually beneficial arrangement with alligators being rewarded with snacks from chicks that fall from the nests.) Mike Heithaus, professor of biological sciences at Florida International University, explains that, despite its lush appearances, the Everglades can be a nutrient poor environment. A largely flat wetland, dominated by grass-like plants, many key nutrients are carried out to sea by great slow-flowing seasonal rivers, some kilometres wide. In the dry season, when the water level falls, research since the mid-20th Century has shown that alligators' habit of excavating holes created variety in the otherwise monotonous landscape, with unique communities of plants, animals and algae around ponds. These holes can be architecturally diverse – created by one alligator or up to a dozen together – incorporating eclectic "burrows and hidey-holes", says Heithaus, including underwater caverns, where the alligator can stay submerged for hours. These aquatic environments form refuges in which fish like juvenile largemouth bass survive the dry season but can also be "death traps" which lure birds in search of a snack, he adds. We're now learning these are surprisingly dynamic systems. Research in 2023 showed that it was not only the construction of the ponds that counted "but actively being in the pond matters", says Heithaus. As the alligators move, they continually stir up the sediment to keep those nutrients in the water. "The alligators are moving around; they're pooping in there. That's providing nutrients which algae – that form the base of the food web – rely on. So, you kind of prime the pump: you feed the bottom of the food chain and [the nutrients] come all the way up." Without alligators, there would be much less nutrients circulated in the water, says Heithaus. "You put alligators there, and you get food and water, and that's happy times for most critters in the Everglades." Eclectic alligators This research also reveals a lesser-seen side of alligators, spotlighting them as remarkably sophisticated and adaptable creatures. The alligator's reputation as a "man-eating monster" was inspired long ago by accounts like William Bartram's widely reproduced (and wildly inaccurate) stories of encountering alligators in Florida swamps with "clouds of smoke" erupting from their nostrils. Although attacks on humans are very rare, these cold-blooded animals remain feared by many as killers or "weird swamp things", says Murray, who has worked with alligators for more than two decades. Those who live up close with alligators see other qualities. One alligator in the state of Georgia, named Wally, was even docile enough to be domesticated as an "emotional support alligator", providing comfort and "hugs" to help alleviate his owner's depression. Despite the reported gentleness of some individuals, it is recommended to stay at least 9m (30ft) away from alligators in the wild. Alligators are carnivores, powerful enough to bring down a wild deer or feral boar but "naturally they're going to be more of a flighty, non-confrontational animal," says Kendall Osceola, who worked at the Miccosukee Indian Village, the tribe's cultural centre. The Miccosukee learn a strict set of rules from a young age for sharing their coastal homes with gators. "We were always told if there's a body of water in Florida, there's going to be an alligator in there. So, keep a careful eye on any pets or anything small around the water line," she says. Yet Miccosukee stories depict them as "benevolent creatures", she says. More like this:• How do you re-home a rhino? Upside down• Elephants hate bees - here's how that helps humans• A wild 'freakosystem' has been born in Hawaii Today, alligators have adapted to live in the urbanised environments of golf courses, canals and sewers. Researchers have been surprised by how varied and flexible alligators are, explains Heithaus, yet research in 2011 found behaviours that have shocked even those who study them. Near Miccosukee village, in an area where alligators live in mangrove forests alongside a fast-flowing river, Heithaus and Adam Rosenblatt fitted trackers to alligators, finding that similar alligators lived very different lives – some were "couch potatoes" who remain close to home, while others were "commuters" who travel long distances to coastal areas. "Tag two alligators – same size, both males, 20m (65.6ft) apart on the shore – and one will not move more than 7km (4.3 miles) in total in three months, and the other might do 800km (497 miles)," says Heithaus. While American alligators have been spotted swimming out in the ocean in the past, prior to this research this behaviour was believed to be extremely rare, says Heithaus. Unlike crocodiles, alligators lack specialised glands to process salt, yet this monitoring showed that some alligators frequently venture out into the ocean when there are abundant saltwater fish and crabs to feast on. "When we first got some data suggesting the alligators were down in these saltwater environments for maybe 18 hours at a time, we were looked at like we had two heads – people didn't believe it at all," says Heithaus. "And I think it's one of the cool things we're finding across sharks, alligators, and lots of animals – that there's a lot more behavioural adaptability and individual specialisation than we would have thought – bold individuals, shy individuals; exploratory individuals, stay-at-home individuals." Carbon-consuming monsters Heithaus is aiming to figure out what causes these different behaviours – whether genetic or influenced by environmental factors – as well as what role "commuting" plays in cycling nutrients around wetland environments. Already, studies have shown that alligator ponds are richer in key nutrients like phosphorus and commuters are carrying nutrients up into the wetlands from coastal areas, by eating in the oceans and excreting upstream. "We know that they're moving these nutrients upstream," says Heithaus. His team at the Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research Program is seeking a more granular understanding of how this affects the overall "nutrient budget" of the ecosystem, where nutrients are deposited, and how it affects the overall system. Crucially, at a time when the Gulf Coast is being hard hit by the impacts of climate change, we are also learning that alligators may affect their environments' ability to capture carbon. By analysing soil samples across Louisiana, Murray was recently able to demonstrate in a study that areas with high numbers of alligators are rich carbon stores. "What this paper says to me is: look, we rescued the American alligator from extinction," he says, "but what we didn't realise, back then, was that maybe we were actually doing a lot more for the environment – in the context of carbon sequestration and the battle against climate change – than we previously thought." The next step, says Murray, is to show that alligators are actively contributing to higher carbon storage in these areas – and how. We have good reason to think alligators, as apex predators, may be playing a similar "top-down" role to the famed wolves of Yellowstone, whose return has reduced herbivore grazing on small trees and helped forests to regrow. The theory of trophic cascades developed by Utah State University ecologist Trisha Atwood has shown that apex predators are not only vital for ecosystem health but could have big impacts on CO2 dynamics. This could be particularly important in freshwater ecosystems like Louisiana's tidally inundated wetlands, which store enormous amounts of carbon, says Murray, but can turn into a carbon source when they dry out. Murray hopes his forthcoming research can provide further evidence about the value of supporting healthy alligator populations. Although hunting bans were the most important step to save the species from extinction, efforts to protect and restore populations are ongoing and involve groups who are often less recognised, he says. Among them are commercial alligator ranchers who retrieve eggs from the wild, incubate them and raise them through the first few years of life in enclosed or semi-wild environments, safeguarding them when they are most vulnerable to predation and disease. This form of early-years care, known as "head-starting", is common in conservation initiatives that aim to help endangered animals – from Eastern indigo snakes to burrowing owls. But, in Louisiana, this is a "self-funded" system driven by ranchers, says Murray. These ranchers are required to release 5% of alligators they raise into the wild, while the rest are treated as livestock that can be butchered for meat and hides. In the Everglades, head-starting is also carried out by the Miccosukee, who rescue eggs in years when water levels in the Everglades rise, threatening to drown eggs, or temperatures fall to levels that can harm baby alligators. "Sometimes I would be at home and my uncle would tell me: 'Hey, the temperature is dropping really fast. It's going to be a really cold night. So get on the airboat and we have to go out there before the cold weather kills them'," says Tigertail. Despite their fearsome reputation, all this hints at a future where humans and alligators coexist, with these reptiles recognised as "helpful participants" in solutions to the challenges we both face, says Murray. "If you think historically, alligators and other crocodilians have been revered as a sacred entity in cultures around the world. Do they command respect? Yes. But are they monsters? Are they to be feared? No." -- For essential climate news and hopeful developments to your inbox, sign up to the Future Earth newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights twice a week. For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and X and Instagram.
