Betrayal: radio-tagged Burmese pythons reveal locations of conspecifics in Everglades National Park

Smith, Brian J.; Cherkiss, Michael S.; Hart, Kristen M.; Rochford, Michael R.; Selby, Thomas H.; Snow, Ray W.; Mazzotti, Frank J.

doi:10.1007/s10530-016-1211-5

Cited by 33 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…GPS tracking in this study resulted in an average of 14.5 locations/animal/week, a marked improvement over the VHF-only one location/animal/week reported in the past [18,37]. This improved location frequency will allow us to estimate differences in resource utilization throughout the day and at a finer behavioral scale.…”

Section: Gps Advantagesmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…This accuracy and precision are much better than what could be achieved with VHF triangulation or aerial telemetry, although not as good as could be achieved with direct observation (e.g., visual location after homing to the VHF signal, as described in [37]). Accuracy and precision seemed to decrease with vegetation density (Fig.…”

Section: Gps Advantagesmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…Burmese pythons have likely been established and breeding in ENP since the mid-1980s [35]. Their remarkable crypsis makes them impossible to study by direct observation [36], so most of what we know about their movement patterns and habitat selection is based on VHF radio tracking in ENP [18,32,37]. Due to the logistical difficulties of working in the vast Everglades landscape, VHF tracking has typically been limited to one location/animal/week, obtained during daylight hours, severely limiting the inferences that can be drawn about python spatial ecology.…”

Section: Study Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When we encountered a tagged python in the wild, we attempted to observe the surgery site and external GPS antenna without disturbing the python, and then, we attempted to download the data via UHF. We were able to track and download data from pythons one to two times per week in the first 3-4 weeks of each season, but after that, we lost VHF signal from the road for most study animals, and because of a lack of regular aviation support (see [18,37] for a discussion of typical aviation support), we could not relocate those missing animals until the end of the tracking season. Flights were in a National Park Service Cessna 206H with permanent amphibious floats.…”

Section: Trackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluating GPS biologging technology for studying spatial ecology of large constricting snakes

et al. 2018

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Background: GPS telemetry has revolutionized the study of animal spatial ecology in the last two decades. Until recently, it has mainly been deployed on large mammals and birds, but the technology is rapidly becoming miniaturized, and applications in diverse taxa are becoming possible. Large constricting snakes are top predators in their ecosystems, and accordingly they are often a management priority, whether their populations are threatened or invasive. Fine-scale GPS tracking datasets could greatly improve our ability to understand and manage these snakes, but the ability of this new technology to deliver high-quality data in this system is unproven. In order to evaluate GPS technology in large constrictors, we GPS-tagged 13 Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) in Everglades National Park and deployed an additional 7 GPS tags on stationary platforms to evaluate habitat-driven biases in GPS locations. Both python and test platform GPS tags were programmed to attempt a GPS fix every 90 min.Results: While overall fix rates for the tagged pythons were low (18.1%), we were still able to obtain an average of 14.5 locations/animal/week, a large improvement over once-weekly VHF tracking. We found overall accuracy and precision to be very good (mean accuracy = 7.3 m, mean precision = 12.9 m), but a very few imprecise locations were still recorded (0.2% of locations with precision > 1.0 km). We found that dense vegetation did decrease fix rate, but we concluded that the low observed fix rate was also due to python microhabitat selection underground or underwater. Half of our recovered pythons were either missing their tag or the tag had malfunctioned, resulting in no data being recovered.Conclusions: GPS biologging technology is a promising tool for obtaining frequent, accurate, and precise locations of large constricting snakes. We recommend future studies couple GPS telemetry with frequent VHF locations in order to reduce bias and limit the impact of catastrophic failures on data collection, and we recommend improvements to GPS tag design to lessen the frequency of these failures.

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Section: Gps Advantagesmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Gps Advantagesmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Study Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Trackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluating GPS biologging technology for studying spatial ecology of large constricting snakes

et al. 2018

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“…; Smith et al. ). For telemetry to be highly effective in suppression methods, the target species must form aggregations.…”

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confidence: 97%

Targeting Aggregations of Telemetered Lake Trout to Increase Gillnetting Suppression Efficacy

Williams

Guy

Koel

et al. 2020

N American J Fish Manag

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Conserving Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri by suppressing invasive Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush in Yellowstone Lake is a high priority for Yellowstone National Park resource managers. Here, we tested whether targeting telemetered Lake Trout could increase the efficacy of Lake Trout suppression by gill netting. Mobile acoustic tracking surveys were performed to identify aggregations of tagged Lake Trout in summer (June–August) 2017. Lake Trout aggregations were relayed daily to suppression crews by phone, radio, or text and a printed map. Suppression crews set 30 large‐mesh gill nets targeting telemetered Lake Trout aggregations (target treatment) and 124 large‐mesh gill nets not targeting telemetered aggregations (nontarget treatment). Mean loge(CPUE) was higher for the target treatment (0.37; 95% credible interval [CRI] = 0.08–0.65) than for the nontarget treatment (−0.37; 95% CRI = −0.51 to −0.21). Mean of the target treatment was higher than the mean of the nontarget treatment for over 99% of the 1,000 draws from the joint posterior distribution. Because of telemetry costs, mean CPUE per US$10,000 spent was similar between the target treatment (0.20; 95% CRI = 0.15–0.26) and the nontarget treatment (0.15; 95% CRI = 0.13–0.17). Telemetry is an effective strategy for improving Lake Trout CPUE, which corresponds to an increased efficiency in the Lake Trout suppression program.

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Cytonuclear discordance in the Florida Everglades invasive Burmese python (Python bivittatus) population reveals possible hybridization with the Indian python (P. molurus)

Hunter

Johnson

Smith

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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The invasive Burmese python (Python bivittatus) has been reproducing in the Florida Everglades since the 1980s. These giant constrictor snakes have caused a precipitous decline in small mammal populations in southern Florida following escapes or releases from the commercial pet trade. To better understand the invasion pathway and genetic composition of the population, two mitochondrial (mtDNA) loci across 1,398 base pairs were sequenced on 426 snakes and 22 microsatellites were assessed on 389 snakes. Concatenated mtDNA sequences produced six haplotypes with an average nucleotide and haplotype diversity of π = 0.002 and h = 0.097, respectively. Samples collected in Florida from morphologically identified P. bivittatus snakes were similar to published cytochrome oxidase 1 and cytochrome b sequences from both P. bivittatus and Python molurus and were highly divergent (genetic distances of 5.4% and 4.3%, respectively). The average number of microsatellite alleles and expected heterozygosity were N A = 5.50 and H E = 0.60, respectively. Nuclear Bayesian assignment tests supported two genetically distinct groups and an admixed group, not geographically differentiated. The effective population size (N E = 315.1) was lower than expected for a population this large, but reflected the low genetic diversity overall. The patterns of genetic diversity between mtDNA and microsatellites were disparate, indicating nuclear introgression of separate mtDNA lineages corresponding to cytonuclear discordance. The introgression likely occurred prior to the invasion, but genetic information on the native range and commercial trade is needed for verification. Our finding that the Florida python population is comprised of distinct lineages suggests greater standing variation for adaptation and the potential for broader areas of suitable habitat in the invaded range.

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Betrayal: radio-tagged Burmese pythons reveal locations of conspecifics in Everglades National Park

Cited by 33 publications

References 30 publications

Evaluating GPS biologging technology for studying spatial ecology of large constricting snakes

Evaluating GPS biologging technology for studying spatial ecology of large constricting snakes

Targeting Aggregations of Telemetered Lake Trout to Increase Gillnetting Suppression Efficacy

Cytonuclear discordance in the Florida Everglades invasive Burmese python (Python bivittatus) population reveals possible hybridization with the Indian python (P. molurus)

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