Population Growth of Alligators

by Shayna Omeara

Submitted : Spring 2011

The American alligator population has been watched upon for years now, due to poaching, hunting, and natural causes of death in the wild. Each year, depending on how many alligators were born, there are certain amounts that are a loud to be hunted, to help maintain a sustainable population. This project was conducted to determine the population growth of alligators in fifteen years. Once the population growth was found, then the percentage of alligators hunted for those fifteen years could be calculated. By using the exponential growth rate equation, the data for the population of alligators between the years 1975 and 1990, could be found. By knowing the population growth, the prediction of hunting twenty percent of the population was fit into the equation to find how it would affect the population. Then the doubling time for this population was determined to find our many years it would take for the population to double. By hypothesizing that the alligator population is continuing to increase, and with twenty percent of the population being hunted to help keep it sustainable, I have come to realize that my prediction is correct.

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