Researchers from USGS-FORT and WARC and University of Florida are collaborating on a long-term Burmese python research program in southern Florida to address management needs of partners and stakeholders throughout the Greater Everglades.
Although much python research has been conducted in south Florida, we lack estimates of vital rates necessary for constructing a complete life table (for example, age-specific survival rates, sex ratios, age at maturity, reproductive output and frequency, population growth rates and dispersal). A life table with demographic rates that reflect annual and geographic variance will facilitate: 1) understanding which life stages have the greatest elasticity for targeted control, and 2) modeling population growth rates to evaluate removals on population trajectory. Further, python vital rates along with improved understanding of python breeding biology (for example, prevalence of multiple paternity, and effects on survival) will provide foundational metrics to inform potential synthetic biology efforts. Building off our work in 2021 where we conducted meetings with partners and stakeholders, we established priorities, designed studies, and began to carry out fieldwork in pursuit of this project in close coordination with our NPS partners. The work on vital rates continues as we collect data on life history traits with the goal of building a robust life table for invasive pythons in south Florida.
Researchers from USGS-FORT and WARC and University of Florida are collaborating on a long-term Burmese python research program in southern Florida to address management needs of partners and stakeholders throughout the Greater Everglades.
Although much python research has been conducted in south Florida, we lack estimates of vital rates necessary for constructing a complete life table (for example, age-specific survival rates, sex ratios, age at maturity, reproductive output and frequency, population growth rates and dispersal). A life table with demographic rates that reflect annual and geographic variance will facilitate: 1) understanding which life stages have the greatest elasticity for targeted control, and 2) modeling population growth rates to evaluate removals on population trajectory. Further, python vital rates along with improved understanding of python breeding biology (for example, prevalence of multiple paternity, and effects on survival) will provide foundational metrics to inform potential synthetic biology efforts. Building off our work in 2021 where we conducted meetings with partners and stakeholders, we established priorities, designed studies, and began to carry out fieldwork in pursuit of this project in close coordination with our NPS partners. The work on vital rates continues as we collect data on life history traits with the goal of building a robust life table for invasive pythons in south Florida.