October 31, 2017
New research published
in Biology Letters looks at how declining mammal populations in the
Florida Everglades is linked to the invasive Burmese python. We talked to one
of the authors, Nathan Burkett-Cadena from the University of Florida, about his
research and the repercussions of what he and his co-authors found.
Tell us about yourself and your
research
I'm an Assistant Professor at the
Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, a Research and Extension Campus of the
University of Florida. My lab focuses on understanding why each mosquito
species bites the animals that it does, when and where it does, and how that
interaction drives the transmission of mosquito-borne viruses.
What is your article about?
This article is about how a
vector mosquito, Culex cedecei, has
shifted from feeding upon a variety of mammals to feeding almost exclusively on
certain rodents in parts of the Everglades where the invasive Burmese python is established. The Burmese
python is implicated in decimating populations of rabbits, deer, raccoons and
other mammals. Rodents are the only mammals that have persisted in
python-established areas, probably because of their high natural densities and
explosive reproduction. Now that rabbits, raccoons and deer are all but
eliminated, C. cedecei is
"forced" to feed on rodents, particularly the hispid cotton rat. The
hispid cotton rat just happens to be one of the only known natural hosts of
Everglades virus, an encephalitis-causing pathogen. C. cedecei is the only mosquito known to transmit Everglades virus.
As this mosquito feeds more and more on hispid cotton rats, this could increase
the prevalence of Everglades virus and human risk to exposure.
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