Burmese pythons reshaped Everglades wildlife and triggered an unexpected mosquito shift

In the Everglades, the disappearance of mammals is changing more than the animals that remain. Burmese pythons have spread through southern Florida and prey heavily on medium-sized and larger mammals, leaving a wildlife community that is less varied than it once was. That change may also be altering the way mosquitoes encounter the animals they feed on. Cotton rats are important hosts for Everglades virus, a mosquito-borne pathogen found in Florida. As other mammals become scarcer, mosquitoes appear to be feeding on these rodents more often. The result is a chain of ecological changes in which an invasive predator may be influencing the circulation of a disease without carrying the pathogen itself.How Burmese pythons changed the Everglades mammal communityBurmese pythons (Python bivittatus) are an introduced predator in southern Florida, where they have become established across parts of the Everglades. Their presence has been associated with steep reductions in several mammal populations, particularly among larger and medium-sized species.That matters because mosquitoes do not feed on a single type of animal. Their blood meals can come from a range of mammals, and varied species a...