Discover the advances in the UF/IFAS project on Burmese python telemetry
- Burmese python breeding season is in full swing in Florida’s Everglades.
- For a team of scientists from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), this means ramping up efforts in the Everglades’ aquatic environment, where water reaches chest-high levels.
A group of UF/IFAS and USGS scientists are using new techniques and equipment in the next phase of a large-scale project to track pythons using telemetry, first launched last year.
The project’s goal is to study the biology and movement patterns of Burmese pythons using radio telemetry technology during their mating and breeding seasons to locate and remove pythons.
This year, a densely aquatic site in the Everglades was included.
A location that indicates an abundance of pythons with conditions that allow them to camouflage among tall grass and slip into deep waters in a matter of seconds.
“We have intensified efforts by tracking 14 pythons throughout the year, compared to eight last year, to better understand how pythons move and use new resources in a predominantly aquatic habitat within the Everglades,”
noted Melissa Miller, the project leader and assistant research scientist specializing in invasive species ecology at the UF/IFAS Education and Research Center in Fort Lauderdale.
“This data can help us improve our understanding of space use, as well as python detection and removal.”
During the mating season, when multiple male pythons gather around a breeding female competing for a chance to mate, the team can capture and remove any python attracted to the previously tagged pythons.
These untagged pythons are called “associated snakes.”
“We have made significant progress by leveraging radio telemetry technology and expect to remove more associated pythons this time, while continuing to study their movement and behavior in this challenging aquatic environment,” she clarified.
This year, the target location of the pythons complicates and simultaneously enriches research on the species’ behavior.
Collaborating with Miller is Brandon Welty, a UF/IFAS graduate student in the department of wildlife ecology and conservation (WEC), who has developed innovative techniques to capture associated snakes.
The study site, surrounded by dense vegetation, is seasonally flooded and contains large areas of underwater habitat year-round.
“We only have a brief window to catch associated pythons when they are in these aquatic environments,” said Welty.
“If the snake retreats into the water, it becomes nearly impossible to locate. So, we occasionally have to jump off the airboat to ensure capture.”
The team continues to work with a veterinarian to surgically implant radio transmitters in additional pythons, allowing for comprehensive tracking of their movement patterns, behavior, habitat use, and what is known as life history traits.
Life history traits can include data on vital signs such as survival, timing of reproductive events, clutch size, growth rate, among others.
These traits are heritable, interconnected, and can be influenced by natural selection.
Researchers from UF/IFAS and the USGS Fort Collins Science Center, along with Danny Haro, a UF/IFAS WEC doctoral student in Gainesville, are using data collected during tracking events to strengthen statistical models for python removal.
“We anticipate that the data collected during python tracking will increase the robustness of the removal model and ultimately allow us to estimate key population parameters of pythons, such as detection and abundance,” noted Yackel Adams, a research ecologist for USGS.
Haro’s research may enable scientists to estimate the number of pythons at this study site, a much-needed effort since their abundance is unknown, hindering removal efforts.
Additionally, staff inspect the surrounding areas during the mating season to identify associated snakes, facilitating the removal of untagged pythons.
“We are understanding the reasons behind the knowledge gap on how pythons use aquatic habitats, as tracking pythons in deep water and dense vegetation is not easy,” Miller clarified.
“Tracking these reptiles often requires the use of airboats and aerial tracking for their location.”
While tracking pythons in aquatic environments is challenging, the team is gathering critical data that will help researchers understand how pythons use different landscapes in South Florida.
Planned for this season is the incorporation of a drone equipped with radio telemetry tracking software, aiming to increase data collection while reducing the resources needed to track pythons.
Scientists hope the mating season will promote the capture and removal of adult pythons, specifically larger females, from remote areas deep within the Everglades.
Adult females can lay up to 100 eggs in a single clutch, making them a priority for removal.
“Python telemetry exploration programs have repeatedly proven to be an effective method for detecting and removing pythons located in interior landscapes,” said Miller.
“This contrasts with most removal efforts, which are limited to capturing pythons along roads and levees that provide easy access.”
This large-scale python exploration program using telemetry is led by UF/IFAS scientists, in close collaboration with Amy Yackel Adams, Mark Sandfoss, and Amanda Kissel, scientists from the USGS Fort Collins Science Center.
“A benefit of our collaborative study, in addition to increasing overall scientific capacity, is that we can simultaneously remove pythons during the mating season while closely tracking tagged pythons throughout the year to learn even more about their ecology,” said Miller.
“These efforts will enhance our ability to detect and remove pythons and allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of removal efforts.”
Funding for this long-term research comes from the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
“Controlling invasive species, such as the Burmese python, remains a priority for FWC,” said McKayla Spencer, FWC’s nonnative fish and wildlife program coordinator.
“Supporting this snake exploration project not only helps us remove more pythons in the hard-to-access semi-aquatic landscape that characterizes the Everglades but also contributes to knowledge about python behavior and life history, information that can be used to improve removal efforts in the future.”
