This project involves ongoing development of tools for the detection and control of invasive reptiles in Florida, with an emphasis on Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) and black and white tegu lizards (Salvator merianae). The goals are to reduce the risk of reptile invasions into, and impacts on, high-value resources such as Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, and the Florida Keys, to access early detection methods of new incipient populations, to maintain rapid response capacity, and understand the population biology and ecology of invasive reptiles to inform management options.
Florida’s Greater Everglades Ecosystem encompass vast subtropical habitats within and around Everglades National Park, which is the only place in the United States designated as a World Heritage Site, an International Biosphere Reserve, and a Wetland of International Significance. Billions of dollars have been committed to the long-term restoration of this ecosystem, but burgeoning populations of introduced and invasive reptiles threaten prospects for restoration.
USGS FORT Invasive Species Scientists are conducting research on a range of detection and control tools for invasive reptiles in Florida, including environmental DNA sampling methods for terrestrial systems, reproductive research to identify critical biological vulnerabilities, and vital rate fieldwork. Scientists are also conducting basic ecological research to better understand impacts of these invasive predators and inform development of control tools.
Python Problem
The invasive Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is established across South Florida and is implicated in the negative impacts of myriad native fauna. It is the most widely known of these invaders, and this giant snake appears to have contributed to drastic declines among several species of midsized mammals in the Everglades. For more than a decade, scientists and managers have investigated python ecology in the area to understand its habits and develop targeted removal and control tools. However, due to their incredible crypsis, pythons have proven extremely difficult to assess, and no tractable abundance estimates have yet been made.
Troublesome Tegus
Black and white tegus (Salvator merianae; tegu) are large terrestrial lizards from South America that are newly established in Everglades National Park, presenting a significant conservation issue. Tegus are dietary generalists with a predilection for eating eggs of ground-nesting animals, putting several threatened or endangered species and species that are indicators for Everglades Restoration at risk (for example, American crocodiles, black rails, and American alligators) within the Greater Everglades Ecosystem.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Mentoring the next generation: USGS, NPS, and University of Florida Cooperative Research Unit Invasive Reptile Intern Program
USGS Everglades Research Office - Florida
Cruising to Improve the Detection of Burmese Pythons in Everglades National Park
Giant Constrictor Snakes in Florida: A Sizeable Research Challenge
- Overview
This project involves ongoing development of tools for the detection and control of invasive reptiles in Florida, with an emphasis on Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) and black and white tegu lizards (Salvator merianae). The goals are to reduce the risk of reptile invasions into, and impacts on, high-value resources such as Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, and the Florida Keys, to access early detection methods of new incipient populations, to maintain rapid response capacity, and understand the population biology and ecology of invasive reptiles to inform management options.
Scientist Michelle Collier holding a black and white tegu. USGS photo. Florida’s Greater Everglades Ecosystem encompass vast subtropical habitats within and around Everglades National Park, which is the only place in the United States designated as a World Heritage Site, an International Biosphere Reserve, and a Wetland of International Significance. Billions of dollars have been committed to the long-term restoration of this ecosystem, but burgeoning populations of introduced and invasive reptiles threaten prospects for restoration.
USGS FORT Invasive Species Scientists are conducting research on a range of detection and control tools for invasive reptiles in Florida, including environmental DNA sampling methods for terrestrial systems, reproductive research to identify critical biological vulnerabilities, and vital rate fieldwork. Scientists are also conducting basic ecological research to better understand impacts of these invasive predators and inform development of control tools.
A Burmese python slithering in the grass in the Everglades. Photo by: Emma Hanslowe, USGS. Public domain. Python Problem
The invasive Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is established across South Florida and is implicated in the negative impacts of myriad native fauna. It is the most widely known of these invaders, and this giant snake appears to have contributed to drastic declines among several species of midsized mammals in the Everglades. For more than a decade, scientists and managers have investigated python ecology in the area to understand its habits and develop targeted removal and control tools. However, due to their incredible crypsis, pythons have proven extremely difficult to assess, and no tractable abundance estimates have yet been made.Troublesome Tegus
Black and white tegus (Salvator merianae; tegu) are large terrestrial lizards from South America that are newly established in Everglades National Park, presenting a significant conservation issue. Tegus are dietary generalists with a predilection for eating eggs of ground-nesting animals, putting several threatened or endangered species and species that are indicators for Everglades Restoration at risk (for example, American crocodiles, black rails, and American alligators) within the Greater Everglades Ecosystem. - Science
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Mentoring the next generation: USGS, NPS, and University of Florida Cooperative Research Unit Invasive Reptile Intern Program
Invasive reptiles like the Burmese python (Python bivittatus) and black and white tegu lizard (Tupinambis merianae) are exerting tremendous harm on Everglades ecosystems, but these problematic species present an excellent opportunity to engage the next generation in science. Since entering into an agreement with Everglades National Park in late 2013, the Invasive Species Science Branch of the U.S...USGS Everglades Research Office - Florida
The Daniel Beard Center in Everglades National Park provides the base for most of the field work done on the control of invasive reptiles by USGS Fort Collins Science Center staff. The team works in Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and other parts of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem focusing on, among other species of concern...Cruising to Improve the Detection of Burmese Pythons in Everglades National Park
It is not uncommon to see researchers cruising around Everglades National Park (ENP) on what has been a routine basis for the past ten months. Every evening, interns pack into a Chevy Volt for their shift assisting the U.S. Geological Survey in conducting Burmese Python (Python molurus bivittatus) nighttime surveillance through observational surveys. This effort to detect non-native snakes, namely...Giant Constrictor Snakes in Florida: A Sizeable Research Challenge
Since the mid-1990s, several species of non-native, giant constrictor snakes, such as Burmese pythons and boa constrictors, have surfaced in localities throughout southern Florida. Several are known or suspected to be breeding and appear to be spreading northward. Increasingly, media and other reports of sightings or encounters with these animals have emphasized the dangers they could impose on... - Publications
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