{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T11:55:03Z","timestamp":1788263703115,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":113,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,27]],"date-time":"2025-06-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1750982400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100006752","name":"U.S. Army Corps of Engineers","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["RECOVER (Restoration Coordination and Verification) through the South Florida Caribbean Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RECOVER (Restoration Coordination and Verification) through the South Florida Caribbean Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100006752","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000201","name":"U.S. Department of the Interior","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystem Sciences Program"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystem Sciences Program"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000201","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Hydrologic alterations within the Everglades have degraded American alligator (<jats:italic>Alligator mississippiensis<\/jats:italic>) habitat, reduced prey base, and increased physiological stress. Alligator body condition declined across many management areas from 2000 through 2014, prompting us to investigate the relationship between their intraspecific isotopic niche dynamics and body condition. Alligators within the estuary had a larger niche driven by a wider range in stable carbon isotope ratios than those sampled in freshwater habitats. Spatially, model predictability was higher at the smaller scale, reflecting the variability in basal sources and biochemistry among capture sites. Male niches were often larger than those of females, driven by wider ranges of \u03b4<jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>C values, suggesting that they differ in their proportional use of habitats and or resources. However, the similar ranges of \u03b4<jats:sup>15<\/jats:sup>N values indicated both sexes foraged within the same trophic level. Furthermore, while not significantly different, large alligators often had a larger niche with elevated \u03b4<jats:sup>15<\/jats:sup>N values compared to medium-sized alligators. Although alligators utilize similar stable carbon and nitrogen isotope pools through time, there was considerable temporal variability. These temporal variations in alligators\u2019 isotopic niche were likely influenced by seasonal hydrologic fluctuations within each site, with their niches often being larger in the spring captures than the fall captures. Alligators\u2019 body condition estimates were correlated with intraspecific niche characteristics, including the mean centroid distance between sexes and the interaction between male and female niche size and overlap, within a site, capture period, and year. The variability in intraspecific niche dynamics, landscape heterogeneity, and dynamic hydrology are considerations for designing sustainable management strategies to conserve and enhance alligator populations within the Everglades landscape.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0326148","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,27]],"date-time":"2025-06-27T17:26:08Z","timestamp":1751045168000},"page":"e0326148","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Isotopic niche plasticity of American alligators within the southern Everglades"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1024-3722","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Mathew J.","family":"Denton","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michael S.","family":"Cherkiss","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Frank J.","family":"Mazzotti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Laura A.","family":"Brandt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sidney T.","family":"Godfrey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Darren","family":"Johnson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kristen M.","family":"Hart","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,27]]},"reference":[{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0326148.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"517","DOI":"10.1007\/s11273-009-9156-4","article-title":"The Everglades: North America\u2019s subtropical wetland","volume":"18","author":"CJ Richardson","year":"2009","journal-title":"Wetlands Ecol Manage"},{"key":"pone.0326148.ref002","volume-title":"Everglades: the ecosystem and its restoration","author":"S Light","year":"1994"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0326148.ref003","first-page":"161","article-title":"The ecological\u2013societal underpinnings of Everglades restoration","volume":"3","author":"FH Sklar","year":"2005","journal-title":"Front Ecol Environ"},{"key":"pone.0326148.ref004","author":"W Perry","year":"2004"},{"key":"pone.0326148.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1201\/9781315369037","volume-title":"The Everglades Handbook: Understanding the Ecosystem","author":"T Lodge","year":"2016"},{"key":"pone.0326148.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1201\/9781466571754","volume-title":"Everglades","author":"S Davis","year":"1994"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0326148.ref007","article-title":"Communicating ecological indicators to decision makers and the public","volume":"5","author":"A Schiller","year":"2001","journal-title":"Conserv Ecol"},{"key":"pone.0326148.ref008","author":"AR Mclean","year":"2004"},{"key":"pone.0326148.ref009","volume-title":"CERP Monitoring and Assessment Plan. 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