A Matter of Scales: USGS Science to Reduce Invasive Snake Impacts
The U.S. Geological Survey Ecosystem Mission Area plays a major role in invasive snake science across the country and the globe, ranging from research on improving snake detection to projects that enhance eradication. Our extensive science ultimately scales up to benefiting public health, energy transmission, tourism, and other key aspects of American prosperity.
Biological invasions occur when people accidentally or intentionally move species outside their native range to locations where they rapidly multiply and cause problems. Some invasive animals seem harmless, like the fingernail-sized zebra mussel, but cause tremendous harm when abundant. And then there are snakes, which captivate many by their beauty but also strike a human fear so prevalent that it gets its own name: ophidiophobia. In the United States and its territories, invasive snakes range from the slender brown treesnake in the Pacific Islands to the massive Burmese python in the Everglades, where some specimens reach over 19 feet in length and weigh over 200 pounds. Moreover, some snakes native to the United States, such as the California king snake, have caused havoc when introduced elsewhere in the world. Most of these invasive snakes are highly effective predators that have caused dramatic declines in native wildlife. However, their collective damage cuts much deeper, including power outages, introduction of disease and parasites, and harm to people.
To protect America’s economy, ecosystems, and public health, science and tools funded by the USGS Ecosystem Mission Area support all aspects of snake invasions. Research on transportation risks and barriers can reduce the chance that known invaders or the unknown “snake in the grass” get introduced to new locations. Cutting edge detection science, and the extensive identification expertise of USGS biologists, heighten capacity to detect new snakes that do make it past prevention barriers. USGS research on management tools, from baits to gene-base technology, lessens the scope and impact of snake invasions. In addition, USGS contributions to understanding the basic biology of introduced snakes, such as their diet and reproduction, benefits science partners and invasion managers across all of these objectives.
Biosssssecurity: Preventing New Snake Invasions
“Snakes On A Plane” isn’t just an action movie – it’s a real risk for new snake invasions. In fact, the brown treesnake likely arrived in Guam via military cargo flights in the 1940s, and individual snakes show up occasionally at airports in Hawaii. Pet releases represent another important pathway of invasive snake introductions. USGS research informs prevention, ranging from biosecurity protocols at military bases to regulations that restrict import of new snake species into the United States.
- We conduct risk assessments and horizon scans that help regulatory and management partners identify and fix gaps in barriers (figuratively and literally) that might otherwise lead to costly new snake invasions.
- New USGS tools allow quick detection of brown treesnakes and other slithering invaders will help inspectors safeguard cargo and transport vehicles against stowaways that otherwise might escape notice.
- We evaluate snake barriers to improve capacity for stopping spread into uninvaded habitats and protecting vulnerable transportation infrastructure from hitchhiking serpents.
Photo: Checking invasive brown treensake traps near Saipan International Airport
Hide and Snake: Improving Detection
From camouflaged skin to secretive behavior, snakes can be extremely difficult to locate. For example, enormous Burmese pythons regularly escape visual detection in the Everglades, even when monitoring teams stand just a few feet away. Thankfully, USGS research pioneers and perfects technological solutions that increase the odds of detecting new snake invasions early…a key prerequisite for achieving eradication before populations (and their impacts) explode.
- We investigate how fragments of shed DNA from Burmese pythons and other snakes can be used to more efficiently assess the geographic extent of their invasion and prioritize sites for other monitoring methods.
- USGS scientists help managers understand how to interpret reports of new snake introductions and the associated odds that a new invasion has taken root.
- We study aspects of invasive snake biology, such as how their relative size relates to how they use various habitats, to improve detection during field surveys.
- USGS supports innovative approaches to finding invasive snakes in the field, such as the use of detection dogs to sniff out brown treesnakes in Guam.
Putting the Squeeze on Invasive Snakes
What can be done once invasive snakes establish substantial populations in a new location? USGS science collaborations have generated many tools to reduce their numbers and impacts. When combined with early detection, control tactics can lead to the ultimate goal with snake invasions: eradication.
- USGS scientists study multiple invasive snake removal techniques and associated response of native species in the treatment area, opening new doors to restoration of wildlife populations affected by the invasion.
- In Guam, where brown treesnakes regularly cause power outages when they climb on electrical lines and other infrastructure, our research is helping identify ways to reduce these costly impacts. We also operate a brown treesnake rapid response team on Guam that protects people, economies, and natural resources throughout the Pacific Islands.
- In California, where the introduction of southern water snakes from the eastern United States has caused concern for large-scale fish and wildlife impacts in the West, USGS investigated control efficacy via hand removal and trapping.
- We’re partnering with citizen scientists to study snake suppression methods in conservation areas, including hand captures via visual surveys and trapping with live lures.
Slither and Yon: Understanding Invasive Snake Populations
Preventing, detecting, and controlling invasive snakes depends on knowing where they hide, how they move, what they eat, what eats them, and many other aspects of their basic biology. USGS science that increases understanding the potential and actual extent of introduced snake populations and impacts also helps prioritize management activities in a world where there are many competing invasive species problems to address.
- We provide comprehensive profiles of invasive snake biology, such as this recent review of the Burmese python invasion in the Everglades, including where they occur and how they have dramatically reduced native wildlife in this unique ecosystem.
- USGS field scientists often document amazing and important new findings about invasive snakes during their field research, such as the dramatic interaction of a native bobcat tangling with a giant python while preying its nest full of eggs.
- We have extensive expertise in the biology and ecology of brown treesnakes, including how they hunt for food, how they behave following control operations, and what affects their reproductive success.
- USGS scientists help describe new snake invasions, such as a collaboration with other researchers using genetics and other information to understand the origin, dispersal, and potential impacts of introduced boa constrictors in Puerto Rico.
Limitations of invasive snake control tools
Brown treesnake mortality after aerial application of baits
Quantifying the importance of ontogeny and prey type in modeling
Spatial ecology of invasive Burmese pythons
Genomic pedigree reconstruction identifies predictors of mating and reproductive success
Size distribution and reproductive data of the invasive Burmese python
Diet of invasive Burmese pythons
Natives bite back: Depredation and mortality of invasive juvenile Burmese pythons
To learn more about USGS Research on Invasive Species
(It's not just about snakes!)
Follow the Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research Program
The U.S. Geological Survey Ecosystem Mission Area plays a major role in invasive snake science across the country and the globe, ranging from research on improving snake detection to projects that enhance eradication. Our extensive science ultimately scales up to benefiting public health, energy transmission, tourism, and other key aspects of American prosperity.
Biological invasions occur when people accidentally or intentionally move species outside their native range to locations where they rapidly multiply and cause problems. Some invasive animals seem harmless, like the fingernail-sized zebra mussel, but cause tremendous harm when abundant. And then there are snakes, which captivate many by their beauty but also strike a human fear so prevalent that it gets its own name: ophidiophobia. In the United States and its territories, invasive snakes range from the slender brown treesnake in the Pacific Islands to the massive Burmese python in the Everglades, where some specimens reach over 19 feet in length and weigh over 200 pounds. Moreover, some snakes native to the United States, such as the California king snake, have caused havoc when introduced elsewhere in the world. Most of these invasive snakes are highly effective predators that have caused dramatic declines in native wildlife. However, their collective damage cuts much deeper, including power outages, introduction of disease and parasites, and harm to people.
To protect America’s economy, ecosystems, and public health, science and tools funded by the USGS Ecosystem Mission Area support all aspects of snake invasions. Research on transportation risks and barriers can reduce the chance that known invaders or the unknown “snake in the grass” get introduced to new locations. Cutting edge detection science, and the extensive identification expertise of USGS biologists, heighten capacity to detect new snakes that do make it past prevention barriers. USGS research on management tools, from baits to gene-base technology, lessens the scope and impact of snake invasions. In addition, USGS contributions to understanding the basic biology of introduced snakes, such as their diet and reproduction, benefits science partners and invasion managers across all of these objectives.
Biosssssecurity: Preventing New Snake Invasions
“Snakes On A Plane” isn’t just an action movie – it’s a real risk for new snake invasions. In fact, the brown treesnake likely arrived in Guam via military cargo flights in the 1940s, and individual snakes show up occasionally at airports in Hawaii. Pet releases represent another important pathway of invasive snake introductions. USGS research informs prevention, ranging from biosecurity protocols at military bases to regulations that restrict import of new snake species into the United States.
- We conduct risk assessments and horizon scans that help regulatory and management partners identify and fix gaps in barriers (figuratively and literally) that might otherwise lead to costly new snake invasions.
- New USGS tools allow quick detection of brown treesnakes and other slithering invaders will help inspectors safeguard cargo and transport vehicles against stowaways that otherwise might escape notice.
- We evaluate snake barriers to improve capacity for stopping spread into uninvaded habitats and protecting vulnerable transportation infrastructure from hitchhiking serpents.
Photo: Checking invasive brown treensake traps near Saipan International Airport
Hide and Snake: Improving Detection
From camouflaged skin to secretive behavior, snakes can be extremely difficult to locate. For example, enormous Burmese pythons regularly escape visual detection in the Everglades, even when monitoring teams stand just a few feet away. Thankfully, USGS research pioneers and perfects technological solutions that increase the odds of detecting new snake invasions early…a key prerequisite for achieving eradication before populations (and their impacts) explode.
- We investigate how fragments of shed DNA from Burmese pythons and other snakes can be used to more efficiently assess the geographic extent of their invasion and prioritize sites for other monitoring methods.
- USGS scientists help managers understand how to interpret reports of new snake introductions and the associated odds that a new invasion has taken root.
- We study aspects of invasive snake biology, such as how their relative size relates to how they use various habitats, to improve detection during field surveys.
- USGS supports innovative approaches to finding invasive snakes in the field, such as the use of detection dogs to sniff out brown treesnakes in Guam.
Putting the Squeeze on Invasive Snakes
What can be done once invasive snakes establish substantial populations in a new location? USGS science collaborations have generated many tools to reduce their numbers and impacts. When combined with early detection, control tactics can lead to the ultimate goal with snake invasions: eradication.
- USGS scientists study multiple invasive snake removal techniques and associated response of native species in the treatment area, opening new doors to restoration of wildlife populations affected by the invasion.
- In Guam, where brown treesnakes regularly cause power outages when they climb on electrical lines and other infrastructure, our research is helping identify ways to reduce these costly impacts. We also operate a brown treesnake rapid response team on Guam that protects people, economies, and natural resources throughout the Pacific Islands.
- In California, where the introduction of southern water snakes from the eastern United States has caused concern for large-scale fish and wildlife impacts in the West, USGS investigated control efficacy via hand removal and trapping.
- We’re partnering with citizen scientists to study snake suppression methods in conservation areas, including hand captures via visual surveys and trapping with live lures.
Slither and Yon: Understanding Invasive Snake Populations
Preventing, detecting, and controlling invasive snakes depends on knowing where they hide, how they move, what they eat, what eats them, and many other aspects of their basic biology. USGS science that increases understanding the potential and actual extent of introduced snake populations and impacts also helps prioritize management activities in a world where there are many competing invasive species problems to address.
- We provide comprehensive profiles of invasive snake biology, such as this recent review of the Burmese python invasion in the Everglades, including where they occur and how they have dramatically reduced native wildlife in this unique ecosystem.
- USGS field scientists often document amazing and important new findings about invasive snakes during their field research, such as the dramatic interaction of a native bobcat tangling with a giant python while preying its nest full of eggs.
- We have extensive expertise in the biology and ecology of brown treesnakes, including how they hunt for food, how they behave following control operations, and what affects their reproductive success.
- USGS scientists help describe new snake invasions, such as a collaboration with other researchers using genetics and other information to understand the origin, dispersal, and potential impacts of introduced boa constrictors in Puerto Rico.