Weather Constraints On Burmese Python Survival In The Florida Everglades, Usa Based On Mechanistic Bioenergetics Estimates Of Core Body Temperature

Invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) succumbed to weather-induced mortality in the Florida Everglades in January 2010. We use a mechanistic bioenergetics model to calculate body temperature in various-sized pythons for the successive months of December and January from 2009 to 2014 using daily weather data for the Everglades area. We incorporate python thermal behaviors judged to mitigate weather effects on body temperature. These models suggest that for at least one month in every year except 2013 pythons experienced body temperatures that would subject them to significant physiological stress. However, estimated body temperatures as low as those reported for pythons that succumbed to exposure occurred only in January and December 2010. Results demonstrate the importance of weather variability on survival.