I was fascinated by the idea that the Burms are filling a depressed meso-carnivore niche in the everglades. I didn't realize that meso-carnivore populations were in decline there.
It certainly makes sense that, if they are, the Burms are shoring up the gap in the food web. Raccoon, opossum, and skunk could all do a lot of damage if overpopulated, let alone what non-natives like the Norway Rat are doing.
It's difficult to see how the Burms aren't fitting right in, based on the evidence so far. They're providing food for a variety of animals, and they're not eating anything an alligator or bobcat wouldn't take (fewer species than that, actually).
The Everglades would be better off with more bobcats and no Burms, but I was shocked to hear that fully 10% of the wildlife there is non-native, now. There is no way to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. That's a mess that simply cannot be cleaned up, at this point.
It's a little aggravating to think that all the fuss over the Burmese may boil down to just one thing--this is the first invader that poses a significant risk to little yap-dogs. Never mind the mass destruction created by animals such as cane toads and walking catfish, or plants like the Chinese Tallow Tree.
There's also a clear and obvious path for the Burms to survive in the long term, there...selective pressure is going to shrink them. They have to be small to survive cold snaps, so the animals that simply stay smaller will do better. Removing all of them seems vanishingly unlikely.
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