Invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) are novel nest predators in wading bird colonies of the Florida Everglades

Burmese pythons in Florida: A synthesis of biology, impacts, and management tools

Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) are native to southeastern Asia, however, there is an established invasive population inhabiting much of southern Florida throughout the Greater Everglades Ecosystem. Pythons have severely impacted native species and ecosystems in Florida and represent one of the most intractable invasive-species management issues across the globe. The difficulty stems from a unique combination of inaccessible habitat and the cryptic and resilient nature of pythons that thrive in the subtropical environment of southern Florida, rendering them extremely challenging to detect. Here we provide a comprehensive review and synthesis of the science relevant to managing invasive Burmese pythons. We describe existing control tools and review challenges to productive research, identifying key knowledge gaps that would improve future research and decision making for python control.

The ecological drivers and consequences of wildlife trade

Wildlife trade is a key driver of extinction risk, affecting at least 24% of terrestrial vertebrates. The persistent removal of species can have profound impacts on species extinction risk and selection within populations. We draw together the first review of characteristics known to drive species use - identifying species with larger body sizes, greater abundance, increased rarity or certain morphological traits valued by consumers as being particularly prevalent in trade. We then review the ecological implications of this trade-driven selection, revealing direct effects of trade on natural selection and populations for traded species, which includes selection against desirable traits. Additionally, there exists a positive feedback loop between rarity and trade and depleted populations tend to have easy human access points, which can result in species being harvested to extinction and has the potential to alter source-sink dynamics. Wider cascading ecosystem repercussions from trade-induced declines include altered seed dispersal networks, trophic cascades, long-term compositional changes in plant communities, altered forest carbon stocks, and the introduction of harmful invasive species. Because it occurs across multiple scales with diverse drivers, wildlife trade requires multi-faceted conservation actions to maintain biodiversity and ecological function, including regulatory and enforcement approaches, bottom-up and community-based interventions, captive breeding or wildlife farming, and conservation translocations and trophic rewilding. We highlight three emergent research themes at the intersection of trade and community ecology: (1) functional impacts of trade; (2) altered provisioning of ecosystem services; and (3) prevalence of trade-dispersed diseases. Outside of the primary objective that exploitation is sustainable for traded species, we must urgently incorporate consideration of the broader consequences for other species and ecosystem processes when quantifying sustainability.

Management of invasive snakes in coastal environments: A baseline assessment of the Burmese python invasion in the Florida Everglades

The Florida Everglades is a unique and fragile coastal wetland ecosystem that is undergoing a decades-long, large-scale ecological restoration. This freshwater ecosystem in southern Florida has been stressed by diminishment of freshwater flow and water diversion due to agricultural activities and urbanization. The health of this vast ecosystem is also threatened by the presence of a large number of invasive species, including the Burmese python. These large constrictors were introduced to South Florida through the pet trade; first sightings in Everglades National Park occurred in the 1980s. Pythons are naturally camouflaged in the Everglades, which turns out to be an excellent environment for propagation of these huge predators. This top predator has severely disrupted the food web, consuming mammals, birds and even other reptiles. In this paper, the current population control efforts implemented by various management agencies are assessed. While more paid professional hunters should be retained to join the search and removal efforts, innovative control measures are necessary.