case study american alligator answer key

Topics Explored: Biodiversity, Ecological Tolerance, Natural Disruptions, K- and r- Selected Species, Agricultural Practices that Cause Environmental Damage, Endocrine Disruptors, Human Activity on Wetlands, Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change, Saltwater Intrusion, Invasive Species, and Endangered Species This case study explores the story of the American alligator. It was hunted to the brink of extinction and after one of the best comeback stories of modern times, the American alligator continues to be threatened by agricultural practices, destruction of wetlands, saltwater intrusion, and an extremely aggressive invasive species, the Burmese python.    Answer key included.

Case Study: American Alligators (Teacher & Student Edition)

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ZIP file containing 2 PDF files  (1 Teacher Edition and 1 Student Edition)

Curriculum Alignment

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS): HS-LS2-1. Use mathematical and/or computational representations to support explanations of factors that affect carrying capacity of ecosystems at different scales. HS-LS2-2. Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales. HS-LS2-6. Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem. HS-LS2-7. Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity. HS-LS2-8. Evaluate the evidence for the role of group behavior on individual and species’ chances to survive and reproduce. HS-LS4-6. Create or revise a simulation to test a solution to mitigate adverse impacts of human activity on biodiversity. HS-ESS2-2. Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems. HS-ESS2-5. Plan and conduct an investigation of the properties of water and its effects on Earth materials and surface processes. HS-ESS3-1. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.

AP® Environmental Science Learning Objectives: 1.9 Explain how energy flows and matter cycles through trophic levels. 1.11 Describe food chains and food webs, and their constituent members by trophic level. 2.1 Explain levels of biodiversity and their importance to ecosystems. 2.2 Describe ecosystem services. Describe the results of human disruption to ecosystem services. 2.4 Describe ecological tolerance. 2.5 Explain how natural disruptions, both short and long-term, impact an ecosystem. 2.6 Describe how organisms adapt to their environment. 3.2 Identify differences between K- and r-selected species. 3.5 Explain how resource availability affects population growth. 4.6 Describe the characteristics of a watershed. 5.3 Describe changes in agricultural practices. 5.4 Describe agricultural practices that cause environmental damage. 5.9 Describe the effects of urbanization on the environment. 5.12 Explain the concept of sustainability. 8.2 Describe the impacts of human activities on aquatic ecosystems. 8.3 Describe endocrine disruptors. Describe the effects of endocrine disruptors on ecosystems. 8.4 Describe the impacts of human activity on wetlands and mangroves. 8.7 Describe the effect of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on ecosystems. 9.4 Identify the threats to human health and the environment posed by an increase in greenhouse gases. 9.5 Explain how changes in climate, both short- and long-term, impact ecosystems. 9.6 Explain the causes and effects of ocean warming. 9.8 Explain the environmental problems associated with invasive species and strategies to control them. 9.9 Explain how species become endangered and strategies to combat the problem. 9.10 Explain how human activities affect biodiversity and strategies to combat the problem.

AP® Environmental Science Practices: 1: Explain environmental concepts, processes, and models presented in written format.  2: Analyze visual representations of environmental concepts and processes.  3: Analyze sources of information about environmental issues.  4: Analyze research studies that test environmental principles.  5: Analyze and interpret quantitative data represented in tables, charts, and graphs. 6: Apply quantitative methods to address environmental concepts. 7: Propose and justify solutions to environmental problems.

AP® is a registered trademark registered by the College Board®. This work/product/service has been developed independently from and is not endorsed by the College Board®. 

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Chapter 24: Problem 40

If an American alligator has been basking but gets too hot, how might the alligator cool itself? a. increase vasodilation b. sweat c. move into shade d. increase metabolic rate

Short answer, step by step solution, - understand the question, - analyze each option, - eliminate incorrect options, - select the correct answer, key concepts.

These are the key concepts you need to understand to accurately answer the question.

behavioral adaptations

• Moving into the shade: By finding a cooler, shaded area, alligators can lower their body temperature efficiently.
• Entering the water: Water bodies can provide a cooler environment compared to air, hence helping in heat dissipation.
• Altering body position: Alligators might change their posture to minimize the surface area exposed to the sun to reduce heating.

reptile physiology

• Ectothermic nature: Unlike endothermic animals (like mammals and birds), alligators do not generate their own body heat internally. Instead, they depend on solar energy and environmental heat.
• Skin structure: Alligator skin lacks sweat glands. This means they do not sweat to cool down. Instead, they employ other physiological and behavioral processes to manage their body temperature.
• Metabolic rate: Alligators have a lower metabolic rate compared to endotherms, which is advantageous in conserving energy. However, increased metabolic activity does not help in cooling down and might even generate more internal heat.

cooling mechanisms

• Shade seeking: Moving into shaded areas significantly reduces exposure to direct sunlight, allowing the alligator's body temperature to drop gradually.
• Water immersion: Submerging in water helps dissipate heat more efficiently. Water has high thermal conductivity, which aids in faster cooling compared to air.
• Vasodilation: While not their primary cooling method, vasodilation can help increase blood flow to the skin surface and promote heat loss.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

A plane that divides an animal into dorsal and ventral portions is the plane. a. sagittal b. midsagittal c. frontal d. transverse

Ectotherms and endotherms have different strategies for generating and maintaining body heat. Explain why ectotherms are more dependent on the environment for body heat than endotherms and how endotherms are able to generate and maintain body temperature. a. Ectotherms use external thermal heat whereas endotherms use metabolically generated heat to help regulate and maintain body temperatures. b. Ectotherms use external heat to help regulate and maintain body temperatures whereas endotherms have constantly varying internal temperatures. c. Ectotherms use metabolically-generated heat to maintain a constant body temperature whereas endotherms use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature within a wider range. d. Ectotherms use external thermal energy to help regulate and maintain body temperatures whereas endotherms maintain a constant body temperature.

The endocrine system incorporates feedback mechanisms that maintain homeostasis. Which of the following demonstrates negative feedback by the endocrine system? a. During labor, the fetus exerts pressure on the uterine wall, inducing the production of oxytocin, which stimulates uterine wall contraction. The contractions cause the fetus to further push on the wall, increasing the production of oxytocin. b. After a meal, blood glucose levels become elevated, stimulating beta cells of the pancreas to release insulin into the blood. Excess glucose is then converted to glycogen in the liver, reducing blood glucose levels. c. At high elevation, atmospheric oxygen is scarcer. In response to signals that oxygen is low, the brain decreases an individual’s rate of respiration to compensate for the difference. d. A transcription factor binds to the regulating region of a gene, blocking the binding of another transcription factor required for expression.

What is the term for a hard covering or shell that provides protection and muscle attachment? a. apodeme b. fusiform c. exoskeleton d. endotherm

During torpor, arctic ground squirrels reduce their energy requirements by reducing their core body temperature and metabolic rate. Why would an active ground squirrel’s ATP synthesis also increase in proportion to metabolic rate when temperatures fall below 0°? a. Colder temperatures causes ATP to degrade. b. ATP is synthesized through cellular respiration, which provides body heat. c. ATP synthesis is needed to provide more oxygen to the cells. d. ATP is consumed by the cells to generate body heat.

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The following story entitled "Alligator River".

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Read the following story entitled "Alligator River".

In your post, please provide your answers to the question posed at the end of the story.

Explain why you give this number.

Here is an example:

Abigail was ranked 4 on behavior and 2 on responsibility because although what she did was wrong, she did what she had to do to get to the other side to see Gregory. I don't believe that her love changed for him because if it did, she would not have crossed the river.

Gregory ranked a 5 for behavior and 4 for responsibility because he should have been mad due to Abigail sleeping with the other man. He ranked a 4 for responsibility because he was not understanding for what Abigail did.

Ivan ranked a 1 for behavior and a 5 for responsibility for he should have gotten involved and taken her across the river. If he was in the situation, he would have liked the counterpart to take him across he river to see his love.

Sinbad ranked a 1 for behavior and a 4 for responsibility because his behavior and responsibility lacked. He was the most immature about the situation and should have been respectful and kind to just take Abigail over the river.

Slug ranked a 3 for behavior because he should not have sought out Gregory and beat him but ranked a 1 for responsibility because he did the right thing and was by Abigail side in the hard time.

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Attached. Surname 1 Name: Institution: Instructor: Date: Character Ranking Name Behavior Responsibility Abigail 3 2 Gregory 4 5 Ivan 5 4 Sinbad 1 3 Slug 2 1 Abigail scores a 3 in behavior and a 2 in responsibility as she did what she had to do to make to the other side of the river...

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The Alligator River Story

• Harvard Case Studies

Harvard Business Case Studies Solutions – Assignment Help

In most courses studied at Harvard Business schools, students are provided with a case study. Major HBR cases concerns on a whole industry, a whole organization or some part of organization; profitable or non-profitable organizations. Student’s role is to analyze the case and diagnose the situation, identify the problem and then give appropriate recommendations and steps to be taken.

To make a detailed case analysis, student should follow these steps:

STEP 1: Reading Up Harvard Case Study Method Guide:

Case study method guide is provided to students which determine the aspects of problem needed to be considered while analyzing a case study. It is very important to have a thorough reading and understanding of guidelines provided. However, poor guide reading will lead to misunderstanding of case and failure of analyses. It is recommended to read guidelines before and after reading the case to understand what is asked and how the questions are to be answered. Therefore, in-depth understanding f case guidelines is very important.

Harvard Case Study Solutions

porter’s five forces model

STEP 2: Reading The The Alligator River Story Harvard Case Study:

To have a complete understanding of the case, one should focus on case reading. It is said that case should be read two times. Initially, fast reading without taking notes and underlines should be done. Initial reading is to get a rough idea of what information is provided for the analyses. Then, a very careful reading should be done at second time reading of the case. This time, highlighting the important point and mark the necessary information provided in the case. In addition, the quantitative data in case, and its relations with other quantitative or qualitative variables should be given more importance. Also, manipulating different data and combining with other information available will give a new insight. However, all of the information provided is not reliable and relevant.

When having a fast reading, following points should be noted:

• Nature of organization
• Nature if industry in which organization operates.
• External environment that is effecting organization
• Problems being faced by management
• Identification of communication strategies.
• Any relevant strategy that can be added.
• Control and out-of-control situations.

When reading the case for second time, following points should be considered:

• Decisions needed to be made and the responsible Person to make decision.
• Objectives of the organization and key players in this case.
• The compatibility of objectives. if not, their reconciliations and necessary redefinition.
• Sources and constraints of organization from meeting its objectives.

After reading the case and guidelines thoroughly, reader should go forward and start the analyses of the case.

STEP 3: Doing The Case Analysis Of The Alligator River Story:

To make an appropriate case analyses, firstly, reader should mark the important problems that are happening in the organization. There may be multiple problems that can be faced by any organization. Secondly, after identifying problems in the company, identify the most concerned and important problem that needed to be focused.

Firstly, the introduction is written. After having a clear idea of what is defined in the case, we deliver it to the reader. It is better to start the introduction from any historical or social context. The challenging diagnosis for The Alligator River Story and the management of information is needed to be provided. However, introduction should not be longer than 6-7 lines in a paragraph. As the most important objective is to convey the most important message for to the reader.

After introduction, problem statement is defined. In the problem statement, the company’s most important problem and constraints to solve these problems should be define clearly. However, the problem should be concisely define in no more than a paragraph. After defining the problems and constraints, analysis of the case study is begin.

STEP 4: SWOT Analysis of the The Alligator River Story HBR Case Solution:

• Pest analysis

SWOT analysis helps the business to identify its strengths and weaknesses, as well as understanding of opportunity that can be availed and the threat that the company is facing. SWOT for The Alligator River Story is a powerful tool of analysis as it provide a thought to uncover and exploit the opportunities that can be used to increase and enhance company’s operations. In addition, it also identifies the weaknesses of the organization that will help to be eliminated and manage the threats that would catch the attention of the management.

This strategy helps the company to make any strategy that would differentiate the company from competitors, so that the organization can compete successfully in the industry. The strengths and weaknesses are obtained from internal organization. Whereas, the opportunities and threats are generally related from external environment of organization. Moreover, it is also called Internal-External Analysis.

In the strengths, management should identify the following points exists in the organization:

• Advantages of the organization
• Activities of the company better than competitors.
• Unique resources and low cost resources company have.
• Activities and resources market sees as the company’s strength.
• Unique selling proposition of the company.

WEAKNESSES:

• Improvement that could be done.
• Activities that can be avoided for The Alligator River Story.
• Activities that can be determined as your weakness in the market.
• Factors that can reduce the sales.
• Competitor’s activities that can be seen as your weakness.

OPPORTUNITIES:

• Good opportunities that can be spotted.
• Interesting trends of industry.
• Change in technology and market strategies
• Government policy changes that is related to the company’s field
• Changes in social patterns and lifestyles.
• Local events.

Following points can be identified as a threat to company:

• Company’s facing obstacles.
• Activities of competitors.
• Product and services quality standards
• Threat from changing technologies
• Financial/cash flow problems
• Weakness that threaten the business.

Following points should be considered when applying SWOT to the analysis:

• Precise and verifiable phrases should be sued.
• Prioritize the points under each head, so that management can identify which step has to be taken first.
• Apply the analyses at proposed level. Clear yourself first that on what basis you have to apply SWOT matrix.
• Make sure that points identified should carry itself with strategy formulation process.
• Use particular terms (like USP, Core Competencies Analyses etc.) to get a comprehensive picture of analyses.

STEP 5: PESTEL/ PEST Analysis of The Alligator River Story Case Solution:

Pest analyses is a widely used tool to analyze the Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological, Environmental and legal situations which can provide great and new opportunities to the company as well as these factors can also threat the company, to be dangerous in future.

Pest analysis is very important and informative.  It is used for the purpose of identifying business opportunities and advance threat warning. Moreover, it also helps to the extent to which change is useful for the company and also guide the direction for the change. In addition, it also helps to avoid activities and actions that will be harmful for the company in future, including projects and strategies.

To analyze the business objective and its opportunities and threats, following steps should be followed:

• Brainstorm and assumption the changes that should be made to organization. Answer the necessary questions that are related to specific needs of organization
• Analyze the opportunities that would be happen due to the change.
• Analyze the threats and issues that would be caused due to change.
• Perform cost benefit analyses and take the appropriate action.

PEST FACTORS:

• Next political elections and changes that will happen in the country due to these elections
• Strong and powerful political person, his point of view on business policies and their effect on the organization.
• Strength of property rights and law rules. And its ratio with corruption and organized crimes. Changes in these situation and its effects.
• Change in Legislation and taxation effects on the company
• Trend of regulations and deregulations. Effects of change in business regulations
• Timescale of legislative change.
• Other political factors likely to change for The Alligator River Story.

ECONOMICAL:

• Position and current economy trend i.e. growing, stagnant or declining.
• Exchange rates fluctuations and its relation with company.
• Change in Level of customer’s disposable income and its effect.
• Fluctuation in unemployment rate and its effect on hiring of skilled employees
• Access to credit and loans. And its effects on company
• Effect of globalization on economic environment
• Considerations on other economic factors

SOCIO-CULTURAL:

• Change in population growth rate and age factors, and its impacts on organization.
• Effect on organization due to Change in attitudes and generational shifts.
• Standards of health, education and social mobility levels. Its changes and effects on company.
• Employment patterns, job market trend and attitude towards work according to different age groups.

case study solutions

• Social attitudes and social trends, change in socio culture an dits effects.
• Religious believers and life styles and its effects on organization
• Other socio culture factors and its impacts.

TECHNOLOGICAL:

• Any new technology that company is using
• Any new technology in market that could affect the work, organization or industry
• Access of competitors to the new technologies and its impact on their product development/better services.
• Research areas of government and education institutes in which the company can make any efforts
• Changes in infra-structure and its effects on work flow
• Existing technology that can facilitate the company
• Other technological factors and their impacts on company and industry

These headings and analyses would help the company to consider these factors and make a “big picture” of company’s characteristics. This will help the manager to take the decision and drawing conclusion about the forces that would create a big impact on company and its resources.

STEP 6: Porter’s Five Forces/ Strategic Analysis Of The The Alligator River Story Case Study:

To analyze the structure of a company and its corporate strategy, Porter’s five forces model is used. In this model, five forces have been identified which play an important part in shaping the market and industry. These forces are used to measure competition intensity and profitability of an industry and market.

porter’s five forces model

These forces refers to micro environment and the company ability to serve its customers and make a profit. These five forces includes three forces from horizontal competition and two forces from vertical competition. The five forces are discussed below:

• THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS:
• as the industry have high profits, many new entrants will try to enter into the market. However, the new entrants will eventually cause decrease in overall industry profits. Therefore, it is necessary to block the new entrants in the industry. following factors is describing the level of threat to new entrants:
• Barriers to entry that includes copy rights and patents.
• High capital requirement
• Government restricted policies
• Switching cost
• Access to suppliers and distributions
• Customer loyalty to established brands.
• THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES:
• this describes the threat to company. If the goods and services are not up to the standard, consumers can use substitutes and alternatives that do not need any extra effort and do not make a major difference. For example, using Aquafina in substitution of tap water, Pepsi in alternative of Coca Cola. The potential factors that made customer shift to substitutes are as follows:
• Price performance of substitute
• Switching costs of buyer
• Products substitute available in the market
• Reduction of quality
• Close substitution are available
• DEGREE OF INDUSTRY RIVALRY:
• the lesser money and resources are required to enter into any industry, the higher there will be new competitors and be an effective competitor. It will also weaken the company’s position. Following are the potential factors that will influence the company’s competition:
• Competitive advantage
• Continuous innovation
• Sustainable position in competitive advantage
• Level of advertising
• Competitive strategy
• BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS:
• it deals with the ability of customers to take down the prices. It mainly consists the importance of a customer and the level of cost if a customer will switch from one product to another. The buyer power is high if there are too many alternatives available. And the buyer power is low if there are lesser options of alternatives and switching. Following factors will influence the buying power of customers:
• Bargaining leverage
• Switching cost of a buyer
• Buyer price sensitivity
• Competitive advantage of company’s product
• BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS:
• this refers to the supplier’s ability of increasing and decreasing prices. If there are few alternatives o supplier available, this will threat the company and it would have to purchase its raw material in supplier’s terms. However, if there are many suppliers alternative, suppliers have low bargaining power and company do not have to face high switching cost. The potential factors that effects bargaining power of suppliers are the following:
• Input differentiation
• Impact of cost on differentiation
• Strength of distribution centers
• Input substitute’s availability.

STEP 7: VRIO Analysis of The Alligator River Story:

Vrio analysis for The Alligator River Story case study identified the four main attributes which helps the organization to gain a competitive advantages. The author of this theory suggests that firm must be valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable and perfectly non sustainable. Therefore there must be some resources and capabilities in an organization that can facilitate the competitive advantage to company. The four components of VRIO analysis are described below: VALUABLE: the company must have some resources or strategies that can exploit opportunities and defend the company from major threats. If the company holds some value then answer is yes. Resources are also valuable if they provide customer satisfaction and increase customer value. This value may create by increasing differentiation in existing product or decrease its price. Is these conditions are not met, company may lead to competitive disadvantage. Therefore, it is necessary to continually review the The Alligator River Story company’s activities and resources values. RARE: the resources of the The Alligator River Story company that are not used by any other company are known as rare. Rare and valuable resources grant much competitive advantages to the firm. However, when more than one few companies uses the same resources and provide competitive parity are also known as rare resources. Even, the competitive parity is not desired position, but the company should not lose its valuable resources, even they are common. COSTLY TO IMITATE: the resources are costly to imitate, if other organizations cannot imitate it. However, imitation is done in two ways. One is duplicating that is direct imitation and the other one is substituting that is indirect imitation. Any firm who has valuable and rare resources, and these resources are costly to imitate, have achieved their competitive advantage. However, resources should also be perfectly non sustainable. The reasons that resource imitation is costly are historical conditions, casual ambiguity and social complexity. ORGANIZED TO CAPTURE VALUE: resources, itself, cannot provide advantages to organization until it is organized and exploit to do so. A firm (like The Alligator River Story)  must organize its management systems, processes, policies and strategies to fully utilize the resource’s potential to be valuable, rare and costly to imitate.

STEP 8: Generating Alternatives For The Alligator River Story Case Solution:

After completing the analyses of the company, its opportunities and threats, it is important to generate a solution of the problem and the alternatives a company can apply in order to solve its problems. To generate the alternative of problem, following things must to be kept in mind:

• Realistic solution should be identified that can be operated in the company, with all its constraints and opportunities.
• as the problem and its solution cannot occur at the same time, it should be described as mutually exclusive
• it is not possible for a company to not to take any action, therefore, the alternative of doing nothing is not viable.
• Student should provide more than one decent solution. Providing two undesirable alternatives to make the other one attractive is not acceptable.

Once the alternatives have been generated, student should evaluate the options and select the appropriate and viable solution for the company.

STEP 9: Selection Of Alternatives For The Alligator River Story Case Solution:

It is very important to select the alternatives and then evaluate the best one as the company have limited choices and constraints. Therefore to select the best alternative, there are many factors that is needed to be kept in mind. The criteria’s on which business decisions are to be selected areas under:

• Improve profitability
• Increase sales, market shares, return on investments
• Customer satisfaction
• Brand image
• Corporate mission, vision and strategy
• Resources and capabilities

Alternatives should be measures that which alternative will perform better than other one and the valid reasons. In addition, alternatives should be related to the problem statements and issues described in the case study.

STEP 10: Evaluation Of Alternatives For The Alligator River Story Case Solution:

If the selected alternative is fulfilling the above criteria, the decision should be taken straightforwardly. Best alternative should be selected must be the best when evaluating it on the decision criteria. Another method used to evaluate the alternatives are the list of pros and cons of each alternative and one who has more pros than cons and can be workable under organizational constraints.

STEP 11: Recommendations For The Alligator River Story Case Study (Solution):

There should be only one recommendation to enhance the company’s operations and its growth or solving its problems. The decision that is being taken should be justified and viable for solving the problems.

• No category

Case Assignment Alligator (Supply Chain Management)

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