Invasive species threaten infrastructure and ecosystems. Once introduced, they can damage power systems, water quality, transportation, and housing. In addition, invasives disrupt overall ecosystem function and reduce potential ecosystem services, like quality forage for cattle and other livestock. 

Stopping these invaders before they reach a new destination is the best defense against them; the more an invasive species is allowed to spread, the more difficult and costly they are to eradicate, and the more damage they can cause. However, early detection and rapid response efforts require technology that can aid managers in predicting where invasives have recently arrived or are likely to spread next. The following are examples of how FORT research supports such efforts across the United States.

The Burmese python and other non-native reptiles have recently spread throughout exceptional American ecosystems like the Greater Everglades in southern Florida. Pythons eat native birds and mammals in the Everglades and can outcompete native reptiles for resources. Some native mammals like foxes and cottontail rabbits have disappeared entirely from the region since the introduction of Burmese pythons. In a recent synthesis of Burmese python biology in Florida, USGS scientists and their collaborators describe the species’ impacts on human safety, wildlife, and the larger Everglades ecosystem, including the introduction of new wildlife parasites and diseases.  

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Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to remove all the invasive pythons in South Florida – USGS scientists are working on population estimation for this species with their partners as there are no reliable population estimates of pythons to help us evaluate management actions. Instead, resource managers are interested in targeting control efforts at the life stages that most influence population growth. To support these efforts, scientists at FORT and the USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center are working with local partners to produce estimates of python vital rates including how often they reproduce, how fast they grow, and how long they live. This science is essential to cost-effective and efficient management of pythons in the Everglades, and could prevent their further spread throughout the area. 

Below: Trail camera photography of a brooding Burmese python female and her hatchlings within a concrete pipe located within the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, Florida, USA. In the first two videos, a female python sits on or near her clutch of eggs, regulating the temperature of the eggs before they hatch. In the third video, the female python has left the pipe, and the hatchlings are emerging from their eggs. Scientists measured the temperature inside the pipe and the nest itself to learn more about python thermogenesis and brooding behavior. Read more about this behavior in Currylow and others (2025), the first complete report of egg-laying and brooding for this time period of a female Burmese python.

Many FORT research projects are interdisciplinary. On the pages below, you can learn more about additional invasive species and biothreats research from FORT, including science to support management of wild horses and burros, science investigating the economics and efficacy of land treatments, science to aid reclamation, and science on wildlife disease.