Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
methods - promote delays in recognition and/or response to the invasion, often
until after the window of opportunity has closed. That was the exact dynamic oper-
ative in the case of coquis in Hawaii, brown treesnakes in Guam, and Burmese
pythons in South Florida. That same dynamic was avoided in the cases of
Limnodynastes
in New Zealand and bullfrogs in Great Britain because the threat
from each was acknowledged at an early stage and because the limited range and
aquatic breeding habits of both species allowed for application of control operations
at a narrowly focused spatial scale.
But opportune confluence of the proper social, biological, and temporal factors
is unlikely to be fortuitously met for most herpetological invasions, especially until
the social limitations of disbelief and undeveloped control methodologies are recti-
fied. Control efforts are likely to be similarly compromised by frequent inability to
guarantee long-term investment of funds and personnel in such operations. The
odds of successful control can certainly be improved by concerted efforts to remove
or neutralize the four social constraints and to pursue herpetofaunal eradications
with the same degree of professional planning and resource commitment that now
characterize rat and ungulate eradications. Such efforts are feasible and eminently
worthy of pursuit, and some means of overcoming those limitations will be dis-
cussed in the following chapter. But biological constraints remain likely to prove
decisively limiting in many herpetofaunal invasions, and, at least for the foreseeable
future, most herpetological introductions once established will prove ineradicable.
Hence, I think it is clear that avoidance of further herpetological invasions must rely
heavily on well-designed prevention programs. This does not obviate the need for
competent rapid-response and eradication programs, but merely recognizes that
some invasive reptiles and amphibians will present biological difficulties that do
not apply to eradication campaigns against other taxa. Hence, primary reliance on
responding to known incursions can never form the foundation of a successful pro-
gram to stem herpetological invasions. Similar to ensuring personal or public
health, prevention of infection is key.
