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Severe mammal declines coincide with proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park


Metadata FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributorMelissa A. Miller, mam0065@auburn.eduen_US
dc.creatorDorcas, Michael E.
dc.creatorWillson, John D.
dc.creatorReed, Robert N.
dc.creatorSnowd, Ray W.
dc.creatorRochforde, Michael R.
dc.creatorMiller, Melissa A.
dc.creatorMeshaka Jr., Walter E.
dc.creatorAndreadish, Paul T.
dc.creatorMazzottie, Frank J.
dc.creatorRomagosa, Christina M.
dc.creatorHart, Kristen M.
dc.date.accessioned2020-04-01T15:27:12Z
dc.date.available2020-04-01T15:27:12Z
dc.date.created2012
dc.identifier10.1073/pnas.1115226109en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.pnas.org/content/109/7/2418en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11200/49769
dc.description.abstractInvasive species represent a significant threat to global biodiversity and a substantial economic burden. Burmese pythons, giant constricting snakes native to Asia, now are found throughout much of southern Florida, including all of Everglades National Park (ENP). Pythons have increased dramatically in both abundance and geographic range since 2000 and consume a wide variety of mammals and birds. Here we report severe apparent declines in mammal populations that coincide temporally and spatially with the proliferation of pythons in ENP. Before 2000, mammals were encountered frequently during nocturnal road surveys within ENP. In contrast, road surveys totaling 56,971 km from 2003–2011 documented a 99.3% decrease in the frequency of raccoon observations, decreases of 98.9% and 87.5% for opossum and bobcat observations, respectively, and failed to detect rabbits. Road surveys also revealed that these species are more common in areas where pythons have been discovered only recently and are most abundant outside the python’s current introduced range. These findings suggest that predation by pythons has resulted in dramatic declines in mammals within ENP and that introduced apex predators, such as giant constrictors, can exert significant top-down pressure on prey populations. Severe declines in easily observed and/or common mammals, such as raccoons and bobcats, bode poorly for species of conservation concern, which often are more difficult to sample and occur at lower densities.en_US
dc.formatPDFen_US
dc.relation.ispartofProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of Americaen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries0027-8424en_US
dc.rights© YEAR. This is the version of record published by the National Academy of Sciences and is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Item should be cited as: Dorcas, M. E., Willson, J. D., Reed, R. N., Snow, R. W., Rochford, M. R., Miller, M. A., ... & Hart, K. M. (2012). Severe mammal declines coincide with proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(7), 2418-2422.en_US
dc.subjectinvasion biology | population declines | top-down regulation | reptilesen_US
dc.titleSevere mammal declines coincide with proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Parken_US
dc.typeTexten_US
dc.type.genreJournal Article, Academic Journalen_US
dc.citation.volume109en_US
dc.citation.issue7en_US
dc.citation.spage2418en_US
dc.citation.epage2422en_US
dc.description.statusPublisheden_US
dc.description.peerreviewyesen_US

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