Fig 1.
Map of collection sites in Louisiana West Zone (triangles), Louisiana East Zone (circles), and Florida (rectangles).
Table 1.
Summary of parasite species collected from each alligator host/year in each geographic zone.
Table 2.
Average heavy metal concentrations (mg/kg) in alligators and parasites (mean ± standard deviations).
Table 3.
Average heavy metal concentrations (mg/kg ± standard deviation) for different parasite groups.
Table 4.
Summary of statistically significant heavy metal variation among pentastomids, trematodes and nematodes.
Parasites with significantly higher levels of heavy metal concentrations are marked with (*). Statistical analyses were performed with Wilcoxon-Signed Rank tests. FDRs are provided to show the projected percent of false predictions in the set of predictions.
Table 5.
Comparison between geographic zones of mean (± standard deviation) heavy metal concentrations (mg/kg) from alligators and their parasites.
Table 6.
Statistical comparison by region (SELA, SWLA, and FL) of heavy metals from different parasite groups.
Statistical analyses were performed with Kruskal-Wallis chi-squared tests; region highlighted in table had significantly higher concentrations compared to other areas.
Fig 2.
Comparative data of As concentrations among pentastomids from SWLA, SELA, and FL.
Quantity of pentastomids analyzed from each region is shown (n =).
Table 7.
Ratio of bioaccumulation levels (Cparasite/Chost) between alligators and their parasites collectively among geographic zones.
High ratios are indicative of acute exposure to heavy metals, and low ratios are indicative of chronic exposure to heavy metal pollution.
Fig 3.
Comparative data of the total heavy metal concentration from an individual alligator from Iberville, Louisiana from the 2011 SELA alligator harvest.
Fig 4.
Comparative data of the total heavy metal concentration from Lake Loochloosa, FL during (a) 2011, and (b) 2012 alligator harvests.
Each graph represents an individual collected from that year selected at random.