Bayles, T. (2023, August 17). Blueprint created for invasive species removal in Everglades. Retrieved September 5th, 2023, from https://news.wgcu.org/section/environment/2023-08-17/blueprint-created-for-invasive-species-removal-in-everglades
Scientists from the University of Florida after 10 years published a study on the removal of invasive species Spectacled caiman from the Eastern Everglades. Over those ten years, researchers worked on not only reducing the spread of Spectacled caiman, but also the removal of over 200 Spectacled caiman, and today this study provides a blueprint on how to deal with invasive species on a global scale. The researchers, satisfied with their efforts, continue on their project of removing invasive species by developing tools to locate caiman nests using thermal imaging.
This article showed innovative progress and that the health of ecosystems can be improved by humans removing invasive species. I believe that the article shed light on the importance of not only eradicating but monetization of invasive species. The article also made me think about how difficult it must be to not only monitor and dispatch potentially hostile reptiles, but also small ones like insects.
Interesting story. I’ve actually seen the caiman in the wild and can tell you that’s not an invasive species you want anywhere close to where you live… basically a crocodile. As you know invasives are a challenge and so if they’ll have a plan to deal with this and its replicable, that’s great.
Did they say it could work on other species? You posed the question of dealing with insects? Could this same technology be used on something small? Or is the thermal imaging for bigger organisms.
Thanks for posting these and following this topic this year, Gabriel. Hope it kept you interested.
I fully agree with you that removing invasive species can be necessary to maintain a healthy ecosystem. The tools you mentioned that use thermal imaging sounded very interesting and I wonder how this would work. What effects did this species have on the ecosystem?
I agree it can be really difficult to find and remove invasive species. For my environmental service hours, I went to the marsh and removed invasive pants; it was a very long and tiring process. I wonder how this technology could be used in the future to assist in removing invasive species?