Florida: American Alligator Vs. Burmese Python?

[TimmyG]

This is about the hottest topic the herp community is faced with since legislation to remove all non-native species from the United States, and while we all feel as though this will endager our rights to keep exotic animals as pets there is one ecological question that has yet to be discussed.

Without human intervention which species will own the everglades in 10 years? And by how great a margin?

I'm suspecting that if the number of Burmese in the evergades is true (100,000 animals) then in 10 years Burmese will outnumber Alligators 3:2. However, because I know that both the Burmese Python and the American Alligator are threatend species to varying degrees (BP = Near Threatened; AA = Least Concern) I will suspect that without human interference the Alligators will outnumber Burmese in the Evergales by a close 1:1.

[Paradox]

I voted Burmese python, if you have seen that picture of the burm that exploded after eating a alligator, you know why, not to mention, alligators have lived there for centuries, and they havnt taken over yet, but the burms are a HUGE impact after a few years.

[redpython]

i have strong feeling that the infamous photo of the exploded burm was totally sensationalized by the media.

i highly doubt the burmese python exploded because of that gator. i think some people didn't realize that the head of that burmese python was missing as well...in addition to that big puncture wound where the gator was hanging out of. did that missing head just blow up too?

i think another big ol gator came along and chomped down on that snake.

man will rule the everglades in ten years more so than he does now.

[gp_dragsandballs]

I think the alligator will dominate over the python.

Think about how easy it is to catch one your snakes off guard. Snakes are ambush hunters and don't excel much in any other strategies so they are more vulnerable in my opinion.

[mainbutter]

alligators 4tw. sry.

[dc4teg]

i have strong feeling that the infamous photo of the exploded burm was totally sensationalized by the media.

i highly doubt the burmese python exploded because of that gator. i think some people didn't realize that the head of that burmese python was missing as well...in addition to that big puncture wound where the gator was hanging out of. did that missing head just blow up too?

i think another big ol gator came along and chomped down on that snake.

man will rule the everglades in ten years more so than he does now.

i agree that man will dominate the everglades, if now wild hogs.... but thats another story

[Neal]

It depends. A large adult BP will own an alligator. It takes years for them to get to that size though. If humans don't step in then I say BP, if we step in then, AA.

[MasonC2K]

I voted Gator. Sure the one photo gave it fame. But for that one photo of a Burm owning a Gator, there are more (although hard to find) of Gators owning Burms.

[MasonC2K]

i have strong feeling that the infamous photo of the exploded burm was totally sensationalized by the media.

i highly doubt the burmese python exploded because of that gator. i think some people didn't realize that the head of that burmese python was missing as well...in addition to that big puncture wound where the gator was hanging out of. did that missing head just blow up too?

i think another big ol gator came along and chomped down on that snake.

man will rule the everglades in ten years more so than he does now.

NatGeo did a special on this a couple years back. It was determined that after the Burm ate the Gator, another Gator came along and bit the head off the snake. Then the natural process of decomp caused the snakes bellly to rupture and expose the Gator inside.

[Lucas339]

man will never own the everglades! there is currently great acts going on right now to improve the everglades and surround areas. there will be great changes to try and restore the everglades the best we can with what we know. i know of several projects that are aimed at native animal renurishment and improvements in water flow. all human impact is minimalized in the area and building will never take place. the FL government just bought half of a huge sugar farm which will be returned to its natural state.

i voted burm. all of you miss an important ecological point with this animal. who cares if they eat each other!! thats not the problem. the problem is you have two very large predators in a small area. both gators and burms will go after similar prey items. this will put a strain on an already bleek ecosystem thus leading to one of two things to happen. here is a graph for thathttp://www.scholarpedia.org/wiki/ima...nsteadt_pp.jpg)
its not rocket science!! if you increase predators, you decreas prey!
either the predators will have to move which will be somewhat harder for a specialist predator (the gator; it needs water to live in) compared to a generalist predator. the humidity through out florida could easily substain the burm. temps....well it really doesn't get that cold but i assume that some northern range would be established during winters.
the other possiblity is extinction. as you increase the number of new species, you decrease the niches that species can live. this can be due to loss of prey or loss of habitat. here is a simple curve to show just that (http://ipmworld.umn.edu/chapters/ecology/Slide7.GIF).

now all of this is fine and dandy in a bubble! what if we have a drought next year? this year is a wet year. we are having a great wet season and everything is looking up. but wet years are usually followed by droughts! (http://www.appinsys.com/GlobalWarmin...s/image001.jpg). dry years are hard on aquatic animals!

there are several factors that can play out for this. it is not cut and dry as many of you believe. its a very complicated system and we usually don't know exactly what happened until its too late.