Invasive Species Extinction

The Invasion of the Pythons by Amaya Lewicki Imagine you are a measly creature living within the huge wetlands of the Florida Everglades. As you are going through your daily life and routines you suddenly see a big Burmese python upon you who looks as threatening as ever. A bunch of them surround you leading to the realization of what your fate will become. Burmese pythons are a huge threat to all animals who are inhabitants of the Florida Everglades.

A group of researchers collected data to support the theory that the overpopulation of snakes is killing off the mammal population. Ashley Townsend, National Geographic writes, “the python population has continued to grow at a remarkable rate and has caused great distress to the park 's ecosystem.” For this study, the researchers at the South Florida Water Management District recorded the rates of live and dead mammals during a nocturnal road survey and compared it to the 1996-1997 road surveys. Scientists for the South Florida Management District, stated, “Researchers noted that the animals in the park were dying at a greater rate since the python population has gotten so enormous.”

Attributed to the release of the exotic pet, the encroachment of the voracious species has already demonstrated its appetite for the indigenous fauna of the Everglades. It is now feared that with their migration to the Florida Keys, the

During their vacation, a family traveled to the Everglades to enjoy and relax in nature, but their trip was interrupted by a 20 feet long snake. It sounds very frightening, as well as uncommon. However, any person that visits the Florida Everglades has a very good change of encountering a snake like that one, called Burmese pythons. Their population in this natural area has increased tremendously because humans adopt them as pets when they’re young and later release them into the Everglades. The presence of the Burmese pythons is having a large effect on the Everglades because they are killing local animals, endangering its ecosystem, and outing people in danger.

Burmese pythons are overpopulating the Everglades. People buy them when they are babies, so they are small, but when they keep growing they get too big. Eventually the people that bought them just let them go, into the wild, so now they are out in the open ruining everything.The local animals population is decreasing because the Python snakes are eating them.The python snakes could change the people because it could eat their pets whole, so then they would want to move away from the Everglades. Or more people might join the challenge.The python snakes are changing the ecosystem because the python snakes are eating all of the other animals, so that is making the ecosystem breakdown; so they are taking over the other animals.

Thought to have been first introduced into the wild via pet owners (Dorcas & Wilson, 20011) have caused significant declines in mammal populations. An observational study conducted by Dorcas et al (2012), found a 90% reduction in encounter rates of a number of species including racoon, opossums, bob cats and white tailed deer over the period 2003-2011 in which Burmese python populations have increased. The introduction of the Burmese python has also caused a significant decline in bird species. A study conducted by Dove et al (2011) found remains of 25 different species of birds in the digestive tracts of 85 Burmese pythons collected from 2003-2008, 4 of which are of special concern in Florida and 1 the ‘Wood Stork’ is listed as endangered. Preying on native wildlife and competing with native predators has impacted the food web and trophic level dynamics of the ecological

As an invasive species, the Burmese python has an immense impact on the native populations of the Everglades. In the last 20 years, observations of mammals in the Everglades have declined by 95% while the number of non-native Burmese pythons in the park has significantly increased (Sovie et al. 2016). Data from game cameras used in a study by Willson support this observation, showing the spatial pattern of mammal abundance being inversely correlated with spatial expansion of Burmese pythons in the Everglades (Willson 2017).

Through the ages people have seen the rapid decline of many different species. Unfortunately due to habitat loss, hunting, and other anthropocentric reasons the loss of wildlife is a norm in the world today. The southern region of the United States is just a remnant of the beautiful landscape that used to cover the area. One species that has seen a direct negative implication of the development in this landscape is the majestic Florida Panther. This creature has been slowly decreasing ever since the first settlers in 1539 (Silverstein et al., 1997). Throughout the 1900’s people were both encouraged, and often times paid, to hunt them (Silverstein et al., 1997). The panther is still in danger today due to the destruction of their habitat with

Since earth was created, there has been a natural phenomenon of species across the globe appearing and disappearing. However, in the past century, many species of animals have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Mainly, this rapidly occurring issue is caused by humans. Humans that contribute to the harmful actions that cause side effects such a pollution, deforestation, habitat loss and poaching. The natural rate of extinction pales in comparison to the extinction rate caused by all of these. According to the World Wildlife Fund, the current rate of extinction is 11,000 times greater than the natural extinction rate. Several different efforts have been made in order to stop or slow down the extinction of earth’s species. The Endangered Species Act is possibly the most successful example of these efforts. It’s main purpose is to get a commitment from the American people that they will work hand in hand to help save species that are at risk of becoming extinct and never returning. This act was put in place in 1973 and since then, no other law about the disappearance of wildlife has been quite as accomplished. Many different species that are protected under this law are either fully recovered or on their way to becoming safer. Laws like these are helping many different creatures left and right, however, at the alarming rate that they are disappearing, something else needs to be done. What people don’t seem to realize is that we depend on many of the animals that we are

When animals are voluntary or involuntary let into the wild many native species can become threatened by animals that, in the foreign ecosystem, have no natural predators. Pythons in Florida is a great

Earth is home to many wonderful and exotic species, as well as our home. These species, including us, rely on their environment to find shelter and food. Unfortunately, their ecosystem is being destroyed by us. Some species are already at the risk of becoming extinct. One can wonder how far we will go and what would be the consequences of our actions.

One environmental issue that the great lakes watershed has been exposed to is invasive species. An invasive species is any organism that is foreign to an ecosystem and causes harm (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2016). In ordered to be classified as foreign they do not have to be from a different country but they just must be a non-native to an established ecosystem. Some of the species travel at their own will but they primarily spread through human activities unintentionally. As we import and export goods, or travel, some uninvited species may ride along and travel to new places. Organisms can be stowed away in ships or products like wood. Some ornamental plants may

Do people ever wonder why there are flowers that are just there on the side of the road and nowhere else? That is because they are invasive. Some people think those flowers should stay until nature takes care of them. Others think people should take steps to remove them or atleast reduce them. I believe taking steps to help restore the original species will reduce environment change, animal invasions, and native extinction.

It’s clear that a great extinction is coming from the evidence of the destruction of other species around us. The choices made by the human race have too often negatively affected the surrounding species. Tracy Wilson, the site director for HowStuffWorks.com, in an article for Animal Planet, states that

The scale and pace of change is dramatic; for example, the extinction of species is occurring at around 100-fold pre-human rates4. The population sizes of vertebrate species have, on average, declined by half over the last 45 years5. More than 2.3 million km2 of primary forest has been felled since 20006. About