Invasives in everglades

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Invasives in Everglades

The argument presented in this paper that a large number of pythons present in some of the areas of the United States at different times is concomitant with the lack of mammals and the animals conceived to be eaten or consumed by the pythons is very significant. This research, therefore, goes into questioning the relatedness of the increase in the number of pythons with the decrease in the number of mammals and how these two are related. Even though to some extent and in some situations this does not count and therefore there is no relation, most of the times it counts to a great extent and therefore most of the hypotheses of the researchers indicate that it is these pythons that consume the mammals hold and they are proven to be true.

The pythons are referred to as invasive species of animals and therefore stated to be a very big causative agent towards the many threats towards global diversity and ecosystem. The amount of money spent in the United States to manage and prevent invasive species from bringing destruction to the ecosystem is $120 billion per year. At the beginning of the research, we see that nonnative reptiles are a big threat to the ecosystem and they might be able to cause a lot of problems in any ecosystem if they are allowed to persist. One of the major reasons why these reptiles and in particular pythons are referred to as threats is that they can feed on animals that are even considered to be endangered.

According to this research, the results of ENP about the decline in the number of mammals and how these mammals are believed to have got lost are linked whereby when the number of pythons lost in the ENP was high the number of mammals lost and those that were believed to have been consumed became even bigger and therefore it is firmly believed from the results of the research that it is these pythons which were involved in the consumption of these animals and mammals.

The methods used in this type of research are varied and they provide quality results about the relationship of the mammals and the pythons. One of how they were able to get information that was needed was through the use of the data which was already collected and which ranged from 1996 to 1997 about mammals and how they behaved about the presence of other animals like the python. Another method employed is the use of park rangers who kept every detail of the killed animals and therefore from this it was possible to interpret different aspects of the death situation of the animals. Surveys were also conducted and from these as well information was obtained. These surveys involved using a vehicle to go around and observe different situations and activities and therefore these were done by a vehicle that carried between on to four people. These observed every aspect of all the animals and how they were able to get into their current positions for example how they were able to be killed for those that were found dead.

The results of the research were that from 1993 to 1999 raccoons were the most common animals which were found killed during the roadkill survey conducted. The methods of research were consistent, however, there were no rabbits or foxes were found.

The everglades ecosystem being a very stable one can however be affected adversely by different invasive exotic species like the pythons which can feed on so many other animals even those endangered and making them extinct. Pollution on the other hand causes slightly higher dangers to the ecosystem and therefore the effects of exotic invasive species are less than that of pollution.

Reference

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 the proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(7), 2418-2422.