![]() ![]() It is estimated that nearly half of the imperiled species in the US are threatened by exotic species, possibly because a growing number of exotics are successfully invading and establishing viable populations. A comprehensive understanding of these threats requires information on movement and habitat-use patterns of invasives, or ‘exotics’ , in their new environments. Competition with and predation by invasive species are continuing threats to native biodiversity worldwide, and invasive species can also cause harm to other ecological resources. Discerning the scope of these patterns can aid in designing appropriately timed and scaled management strategies for habitats of concern, including threatened, endangered, and invasive species. Understanding habitat-use patterns is a fundamental aspect of animal ecology. High-use areas determined from python habitat-use and movement data may be optimal locations for targeted control efforts and further studies on impacts to native fauna. The longest movements of individual pythons correlated well with presence of surface water, and occurred during both wet and dry seasons. Multiple common-use areas were in proximity to roads. ![]() Tree islands were a principal feature of common-use areas, even if they were not the predominant habitat type. Python core-use areas included slough and coastal habitat types, and we delineated 18 common-use areas (that is, areas where individual core-use areas spatially overlapped). We observed mean individual radio-tracked python home ranges of 22.5 km 2 (2250 ha) with overall low site fidelity all home ranges were within the park boundary. Radio-tracking periods ranged from 87 to 697 days for snakes with VHF tags, with a total of 5,119 tracking days (mean ± 1 SD = 319.9 ± 184.3 days) GPS tracking periods ranged from 12 to 93 days, with a total of 146 tracking days (mean ± 1 SD = 48.7 ± 40.7 days). ![]() Our goal was to identify individual core-use areas and quantify home ranges, as well as to explore correlations of python movements with environmental parameters such as the presence of surface water. ![]() To understand the spatial ecology of non-native Burmese pythons ( Python molurus bivittatus), now well-established in Everglades National Park and much of South Florida USA, we radio-tracked 19 wild-caught adult pythons, 16 with VHF tags during 2006 through 2009 and 3 by GPS tags between 20. Studies on the spatial ecology of invasive species provide critical information for conservation managers such as habitat preferences and identification of native species at risk of predation. ![]()
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