Mesomammal Inventory at Big Cypress National Preserve 2025 - Open Format Dataset
National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Division. 2026. Mesomammal Inventory at Big Cypress National Preserve 2025 - Open Format Dataset. National Park Service. Fort Collins CO https://doi.org/10.57830/2319234
Vertebrates, especially mammals, are declining rapidly across the globe. One of the leading causes of this decline is invasive species. Few regions demonstrate species declines from invasive species more dramatically than the Greater Everglades Ecosystem (GEE), where widespread reductions in native mammals have been linked to the invasive Burmese python (Python bivittatus). Prior research has suggested that portions of the western GEE served as a refuge from pythons; however, it is not clear if this is still true. It is also unclear how environmental variation might facilitate or mitigate the impact of pythons on mammal populations. To address this gap, we used camera trap surveys and an occupancy modeling framework to quantify temporal changes in mammal occurrence and evaluate the influence of environmental variation on mammal occupancy in protected areas of the western GEE. Between 2014 and 2025, mammal occurrence was generally lower in areas where pythons had been established for longer periods, particularly for medium-sized mammals such as white-tailed deer, raccoons, marsh rabbits, and bobcats. Environmental factors, including inundation periods and fire history, also influenced species occurrence, indicating that mammal distributions are shaped by interactions between invasive predators and ecosystem properties. Collectively, these findings indicate that protected areas once considered refugia are now experiencing mammal declines as pythons expand across the landscape.
- Type
- Data Package
- Authors
- National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Division
- Date of Issue
- 2026-08-05
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- DOI
- 10.57830/2319234
- Units
- BICY
- Keywords
- BICY, Big Cypress National Preserve, bobcat, Burmese python, fox, habitat management, IMD, invasive species, National Park Service, NPS, NPS Inventory and Assessment Program, NPS Inventory and Monitoring Division, NPS Species Inventory Program, rabbit, raccoon, Virginia opossum
- License
- Unlicensed (not for public dissemination)