New paper claims mammal population declines in the Everglades coincide with python proliferation

Davidson University, Virginia Tech and the USGS have just released a paper documenting steep mammal population declines in areas where Burmese pythons have become well established. This paper has been all over the media today! I thought it would be worth providing a link to the actual source:

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/01/23/1115226109.full.pdf+html

---------- Post added 01-31-2012 at 11:20 AM ----------

Oops, wrong forum Mods, can you please delete? Sorry about that...

I have family in Ft. Lauderdale. They have said the articles and stories about the non-indigenous animals being out of control residing in or near the Everglades is true.

Thanks for the link, I printed and saved it.

Great article on their research. Invasive & feral animals are generally detrimental to native wildlife. Perhaps the National Parks Service should initiate a bounty on these pythons.

They already do have a bounty. As far as the research goes....eh.

Edit - added post to appropriate forum

As far as the research goes....eh. I'm sure there's a decline, and even as a burmese python lover I think the entire Florida populations should be destroyed. I would have no problem personally removing and killing them because they do not belong in the everglades and can only do damage to an already fragile ecosystem. But that said, the actual analyses are over vastly different sized areas, and is compiled from very different data sets. Also, notice that one figure doesn't include standard error/deviation bars? If it were any other system that did not receive as much media press it would not have been published in a journal as prestigious as PNAS (to say the least). Just my observations.

jayefbe said:

I think the entire Florida populations should be destroyed. I would have no problem personally removing and killing them because they do not belong in the everglades and can only do damage to an already fragile ecosystem.

Click to expand...

I can agree with that. As beautiful as they are, they don't belong there. I'm just happy to see some coverage from peer reviewed publications as opposed to popular media.

So "the authorities" do have a bounty.
People like that have a history of doing that to supposedly "bad" predators...Few,if any,of those "authorities" have ever noticed that a truly "large" and "proliferating" population of predators offers hunting opportunities that can transition to economic opportunities because hunters spend money.

Nor do people like that ever notice that pythons grow big enough to produce usable amounts of potentially expensive,"exotic" meat...
-if you saw the price tags for "exotic meats" in "specialty restaurants" you wouldn't believe your own eyes before you read those prices twice over.
And,yes,people HAVE eaten python meat...and LIKED it.

And I have seen python leather.
It is BEAUTIFUL.

Python leather sold at premium prices before poachers massacred too many to permit a sustainable harvest.
However,if the stories about "proliferating python populations" do have a foundation in fact we could have a sustainable harvest here.
And we ought to consider it right about now.

P.S.

We did have giant snakes in this country.
But the Ice Age wiped them out.

This happened too long ago for native mammals to remember that snakes that size can eat them.
That is why they (and their offspring) are such "easy marks."

Their ancient ancestors knew what to do.
They could warn their young: and they did.

Let us hope that their modern relatives relearn what to do.

Let us hope that they are learning how now.

Louise E. Rothstein said:

We did have giant snakes in this country.
But the Ice Age wiped them out.

This happened too long ago for native mammals to remember that snakes that size can eat them.
That is why they (and their offspring) are such "easy marks."

Their ancient ancestors knew what to do.
They could warn their young: and they did.

Let us hope that their modern relatives relearn what to do.

Let us hope that they are learning how now.

Click to expand...

You've sorta missed the boat on this one. Burmese pythons are bad because they are damaging a fragile ecosystem. Using their presence to our economic advantage ("sustainable exotic meat and python leather source") does not change that fact. We don't WANT a sustainable population, we want them gone.

Also, evolution acts by slow, gradual changes over many generations. The "ancient ancestors 'knew' what to do" because they had evolved while in their presence over hundreds and thousands of generations (and many went extinct too), not because they "learned and warned their young". Also, anthropomorphism. That is the damage that comes from introducing exotic species. Suddenly native species have to deal with a predatory or competitive pressure that completely changes the very specific niche they have adapted to. Thousands of generations of evolution can not be simply shifted to compensate for this new pressure overnight.

Please read Prof. Frank Mazzotti's rebuttal to the original article, which attempted to pin the declining mammal population on the Burms:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank...y_b_1257911.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

pitbulllady