It’s January 2026, which means sea turtle nest monitoring has been in the rear-view mirror for a while, and it’s time for the mangrove field season. I purposely scheduled our annual mangrove monitoring to take place in the winter so we wouldn’t roast or get eaten alive by the mosquitoes and no-see-ums. I get my fill of those elements during sea turtle season in the summer. However, I should not have planned our first day in the field for last Friday, January 16, 2026, when the temperature was in the low 40s, and that’s without factoring in the windchill.

We were working in the Clam Bay mangrove system, in a 6-meter radius plot, and the goal was to complete the tasks before we froze to death. Luckily, the plot was not a difficult one to reach and was an easy one to start the mangrove season. So, we first did a bird survey and, go figure, there were no birds, as they were not crazy enough to be out in this weather! After that pointless exercise where we were frozen in place, trying not to scare off the non-existent birds, it was time to determine the canopy cover. I got out my densiometer and proceeded to stop at 49 equidistant points set out in a radial pattern around the center. At each point, you look through a prism with a mirror that shows you a pair of crosshairs. If you can see the sky through the crosshairs, there is no cover, and if you can’t see the sky, there is cover at that point. We do this at those 49 points within the plot. Then it is just a simple percentage math problem to determine the percentage of times you could not see the sky through the densiometer (i.e., % canopy cover). I know this is old school (or rather the cheap alternative), but if it isn’t broke – don’t fix it!

Then it is time to locate all of our previously tagged mangrove trees and seedlings – an exercise we like to call hide and seek, because, believe it or not, sometimes these mangroves just disappear or are not where they are supposed to be. Each mangrove tree or seedling has its own unique number, so we can compare results from year to year. Basically, we give each mangrove in the plot a health physical: Measure its diameter at breast height (DBH), and measure its height if it is a tree or assess its condition if it is a seedling. By this point, my fingertips were so cold that they were hurting, and I had gloves on. Vanessa (pictured) is frozen to the chair! Not to mention it is difficult to bend over to read the seedling tags (toe tags) when you have so many clothes on that you look like the Michelin Man. We were grateful to Ian Bartoszek from the Burmese python team, who gave us some of those handy dandy packages that you shake up and they get warm.  Those saved my fingertips from falling off.  Finally, we began the last stage of the process, looking for new seedling recruits and giving them a “toe tag” with a unique number, documenting their vital statistics, and figuring out their distance and bearing from the center of the plot in hopes that it will help us locate them next year.

All in all, we were pleased with this plot as it was showing signs of recovering after Hurricane Milton that flattened most of the trees, with a few hardier trees. One of the trees is an old-growth black mangrove, a few centuries old, that takes two of us to measure its DBH! But, honestly, perhaps more important at the time, this plot didn’t have that many trees or seedlings within it, so we could get done quicker and get out of the cold and into the heated cab of our field truck!

Stay tuned for more field stories.

Led by researcher Adrian Figueroa and additional collaborators from the University of Florida and the U.S. Geological Survey, the study investigated seed dispersal caused by the two invasive reptiles. For years, the Conservancy team has collected stomach and digestive-tract contents from Burmese pythons, removed through ongoing management efforts in the Greater Western Everglades. Those samples helped document 25 different seed types inside pythons, including native Everglades species such as cabbage palm (Sabal palmetto) and creeping cucumber (Melothria pendula).  

The findings suggest these large predators may act as unintentional “secondary seed dispersers.” When pythons eat mammals and birds that previously consumed fruit, some seeds can survive digestion and later be deposited in new areas. While only germination trials can confirm dispersal success, a Conservancy-supported test of Sabal palmetto seeds showed nearly 40% germination after passage through a python’s gut, indicating dispersal is likely occurring, according to the research.  

Pythons have already driven severe declines in many native mammals that help disperse seeds. Now, their own movements may also be moving seeds across the landscape, including invasive plants that can take hold in sensitive habitats. 

As this research shows, invasive species reshape ecosystems in ways that are not always obvious. By contributing critical field data, the Conservancy is helping scientists understand these impacts, informing management strategies to better protect the wildlife and fragile habitats of Southwest Florida. If you want to see other scientific papers the Conservancy has contributed to regarding invasive species, please click here. 

Another sea turtle season is winding down and it has been a stellar year for our four-flippered friends. I was out on the beach this past Saturday on North Keewaydin Island to see how our 5 remaining nests were doing. I had one nest that was due to be excavated, so that we can evaluate nesting success. I removed a cage that sits over the nest with my scientific instrument called a shovel and dug down to the nest like a dog looking for a bone, although the dog would probably be move efficient, since I was just using my hands.

Then came the biological work. You count eggshells to see how many hatched, and see how many eggs did not hatch. Then you put on a pair of gloves and hold your nose (if the eggs are rotten) and try to figure out what point in time the eggs stopped developing. If you are lucky, the unhatched eggs were undifferentiated (not fertilized) and just look like egg yolk (those don’t smell so bad). If you are not lucky, well, let’s just say that it is like smelling the worst rotten egg in your life. The things I do for science! 

Each nest you assess is kind of like a ticking time bomb. You never know if you will be fortunate and all the eggs hatch, semi-fortunate where the eggs that didn’t hatch were undifferentiated, or it was your time to deal with the bomb, a nest of rotten eggs. Today, the nest I dug up fell into the semi-fortunate category sort of… I have to qualify it, because as I was digging down to the nest a ghost crab exploded out of the hole I was digging and hit me in the face. Needless to say, I fell back on my rear and swatted the heck out of that sneaky critter. I guess I can’t blame him, since I interrupted his lunch of unhatched turtle eggs and he had quite a buffet going on prior to my unscheduled visit. 

The stretch of beach I was monitoring is north of old Johns Pass that reopened approximately 9,000 ft south of Gordon Pass from the rest of Keewaydin Island during Hurricane Ian. This small area has been very productive for sea turtle nesting even though parts of it look like a petrified forest of Australian pine stumps that sea turtles somehow negotiate to nest. These stumps have managed to trap an occasional female in their grasp, but we are there to help them out of the mess they got themselves into. It is always interesting trying to get a 300 lb. sea turtle to back up for you so you can get them free. Sometimes it’s as easy as pushing on their front carapace (shell) and they get the hint and back up, other times they won’t budge and then you have to break out the saw to cut them an escape route. It’s never easy, those petrified stumps and branches are hard as rocks and I have broken many saw blades trying to cut through them. Eventually I win, but not until I have blisters on my hands and my arm feels like it’s about to fall off. Luckily, these entanglement issues are rare or I would need to go work out at the gym more, to get bulked up for more sawing exercises.

Stay tuned for more field stories. See our sea turtle dashboard data here.

I was out on Keewaydin Island the other day, dodging, or rather trying to dodge, the storms, and was dreading having to dig up an overdue sea turtle nest that had been drowned several times by king tides.  

You see, I knew that what was underneath the cage was really buried in the sand. My experience told me that once I manage to dig out the cage and dig down to assess the nest, it would be a smelly, decomposed mess. 

The nest had been inundated multiple times, so it was very unlikely that anything got out of the nest. I knew that assessing the nest, while needed for scientific data gathering, was going to be an unpleasant experience. To top that off, a storm squall decided to move directly above me, and it felt like someone was continually dumping a bucket of water over me. Luckily, the tap slowed down to a drizzle after about 10 minutes, and I continued trying to get the cage unstuck from the sand. The nest area had been accreting sand, and it was going to take a concerted effort to get the cage out, so I could then dig down to find the old sea turtle eggs.

Out of nowhere, two kids came tearing around the corner of the beach and came to an abrupt stop when they saw me struggling to get the cage out of the sand. The little boy said to me, “You can’t touch that. It’s a sea turtle nest!” I explained to them that the nest was done, and I was getting the cage out of the sand. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that the nest was likely dead from repeated inundations. They continued around the corner, and then a frantic father came racing after them, yelling for them. 

What really made my day was that the little boy, probably only around 5 years old, knew that that was a sea turtle nest and knew it should be left alone. 

To top it off, when I finally managed to get the cage unstuck and find the eggs, to my surprise, 14 out of 73 eggs that were laid actually hatched and likely made it to the Gulf. Yes, the rest of the nest was a smelly, decomposed mess, but some of the hatchlings survived, and a little boy had been taught about conserving sea turtle nests.

Our sea turtle season is in full swing. To view our updated sea turtle dashboard, please see here.

“We have been on the front line of the invasive python battle for more than a decade,” states Ian Bartoszek, wildlife biologist and Conservancy Science Project Manager, who oversees the python program. “Removing more than 40,000 pounds of snake, carried out through some of Florida’s unrelenting wildlife habitats, is a heavy-lifting assignment. But, through years of dedicated research, we’ve developed science-based methods to track this apex predator more effectively and mitigate its damage to our native wildlife population.”

Using radio telemetry and tagged male pythons known as scout snakes, the team, including Bartoszek and Conservancy Biologist Ian Easterling, along with a field tech and python interns, currently track 40 pythons. These scout snakes help locate reproductive pythons during the breeding season, November through April. Conservancy staff monitors scout snakes across a 200-square-mile area of public and private land from Naples through the Western Everglades.

In this science-based approach, biologists target adult female pythons, attempting to suppress python reproduction. Since 2013, the team has stopped an additional 20,000 python eggs from hatching. As the program expands into new areas, long-term monitoring has shown signs of positive effectiveness of these efforts, as scout snakes increasingly struggle to locate mates or the females they find are smaller in size.

“The Burmese python is decimating native wildlife across their invaded range. Here at the Conservancy, we also rehabilitate thousands of injured native animals in the von Arx Wildlife Hospital and release them back into the wild each year. The python team’s work of reducing the local population of the invasive snake allows our native wildlife safer conditions to recover,” says Rob Moher, President and CEO of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.

The Conservancy’s python program is one of the leading research and removal initiatives globally, with its scientists recognized for capturing the largest female python ever documented to date, measuring 18 feet long and weighing 215 pounds, as well as the largest male python on record at 16 feet and 140 pounds. Conservancy biologists have also published more than 20 collaborative scientific articles that reveal insights into python biology and behavior. These include the documented observation of an adult female python consuming a white-tailed deer, which uncovered the largest gape ever recorded for the species, and new evidence of the python’s ability to ingest prey. Pythons can consume meals over 100% of their body mass, feeding on a diet that includes more than 85 species, including deer, bobcats, foxes, rabbits, birds, various reptiles, and other native wildlife.

“Burmese pythons are impressive creatures that are here from no fault of their own,” Bartoszek states. “As wildlife biologists, we have tremendous respect for all snake species. However, we understand the impact invasive pythons are having on the biodiversity in our area, and we humanely remove them from the ecosystem as part of the Conservancy’s commitment to protecting our water, land, wildlife, and future.”

The Conservancy python tracking team collaborates with Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve researchers, the United States Geological Survey, the University of Florida, and the South Florida Water Management District. Funding for the program comes from private philanthropy, grants, the Naples Zoo Conservation Fund, and the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida. To learn more about the Conservancy’s work with Burmese pythons, visit conservancy.org.

About the Conservancy of Southwest Florida

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida is a nonprofit environmental organization that has protected water, land and wildlife in Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties for more than 60 years. Through environmental science, policy, education and wildlife rehabilitation, the Conservancy safeguards Southwest Florida’s natural resources for future generations.

Headquartered in Naples, Florida, the Conservancy is home to Collier County’s only native wildlife hospital and its vibrant Nature Center. Currently open to visitors, the Nature Center is undergoing a major transformation into a new, impactful community offering—the John & Carol Walter Nature Experience, set to open in 2028. This state-of-the-art facility will serve as a gateway to conservation, offering immersive exhibits, hands-on learning and expanded programs to inspire environmental stewardship and enhance the region’s quality of life.

Learn more and support Southwest Florida’s environmental future at conservancy.org.

Media Inquiries

Reneé Stoll, Conservancy of Southwest Florida Director of Communications and Marketing, (239) 430-2460, renees@conservancy.org

Inwater Research Group was assisting Adam Kennedy, director of the New England Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital, with developing methods to catch and release turtles in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, as part of the Aquarium’s research program to learn more about turtles living in this temperate embayment. The method of rapidly deploying (or “striking”) a net from a boat has been used for scientific studies of marine turtles in our subtropical estuarine waters and was suggested as compatible with the conditions found in Cape Cod Bay. 

Immature marine turtles, such as the critically endangered Kemp’s ridley, occur in Cape Cod Bay during summer months. Turtles that are unable to migrate southward when water temperatures quickly drop in the fall become immobilized and wash up along the shoreline. The body temperature of these marine reptiles is regulated by the surrounding water and they become lethargic (i.e., cold-stunned) when temperatures fall below a critical level. Similar to the iguanas and other tropical lizards that “rain” from trees when temperatures dip to near-freezing in southern Florida.

The New England Aquarium is part of a network of organizations that rescue and rehabilitate cold-stunned marine turtles that wash up along the Massachusetts coast every year. The number of cold-stunned turtles recovered in this region has been increasing over the past 20 years, a possible sign of changing climatic conditions as turtles shift northward in these warming waters. In 2024, the New England Aquarium Sea Turtle Hospital treated over 500 cold-stunned turtles, most of which were Kemp’s ridley turtles. 

Other than data collected from cold-stunned recoveries, relatively little is known about turtles inhabiting the temperate waters of Cape Cod Bay. In 1987, a Kemp’s ridley that had washed ashore the year before was instrumented with radio and acoustic transmitters to learn more about its movements and activities before the onset of the subsequent winter. The turtle resided in specific areas among the harbors and shoals along the eastern shore of the Bay before weather conditions halted the tracking. Nonetheless, these efforts offered some of the first indications of how free-ranging turtles use Cape Cod Bay.

More recently, in 2021 and 2022, researchers from the New England Aquarium implanted acoustic transmitters in rehabilitated loggerheads and, each season, they attached satellite transmitters to several of these turtles based on size to investigate their survival and subsequent movement patterns after reintroduction to the wild.

The New England Aquarium is developing a research plan for studying marine turtles residing in the waters of Cape Cod Bay to provide more information on their use of this ecologically important embayment. Aquarium staff have been talking to local people who regularly work on the water (fellow researchers, recreational and commercial fishers, ecotour operators, etc.) to gather locations of marine turtle sightings and identify potential areas where turtles aggregate.

The next step will be finding the right method to catch and release turtles in order to collect scientific data such as species composition, population structure, and seasonal occurrence of the Bay’s inhabitants. A number of techniques have been developed but the “tangle” nets commonly used for studying in-water aggregations of turtles in Florida may be the most suitable given the prevailing conditions in the Bay (water clarity, depth, bottom type, tidal flow, etc.).

To that end, Kristen Luise and Alexis Wrate with the New England Aquarium visited south Florida in October 2024 for demonstrations of some of the marine turtle netting techniques used in our more tropical waters. The large-mesh nets used by researchers are either anchored in place for several hours (set netting), waiting for the turtle to swim into the webbing, or the nets are quickly deployed to encircle a turtle (strike netting) and retrieved immediately after the turtle becomes enmeshed in the net.

The Aquarium staff first accompanied Inwater Research Group at their St. Lucie nuclear power plant project site on the southeast coast of the state. Seawater is used as a coolant for the power plant and marine animals, such as turtles, become entrained in the large diameter pipes that extend into the Atlantic Ocean. Marine turtles are unable to escape from the intake canal to the power plant and are typically captured with set nets for removal from the canal. This presents a unique opportunity to collect scientific data on turtles inhabiting nearshore waters along Florida’s Atlantic coast before they are released back into the ocean.

On the second leg of their journey, New England Aquarium staff Kristen and Alexis traveled to southwest Florida for a demonstration of the strike netting method. This active form of turtle catch and release was first used to characterize the aggregation of marine turtles inhabiting the Ten Thousand Islands region and later employed for similar studies in the Charlotte Harbor estuary. Through a collaborative venture with Pat O’Donnell, fisheries biologist at Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, a demonstration of this technique was arranged in the upper Ten Thousand Islands. Former and more recent in-water turtle research efforts have identified this estuarine archipelago of mangrove islands as important feeding grounds for Kemp’s ridleys and other species of marine turtles, much like that planned for Cape Cod Bay.

Weather is one of the major factors when conducting in-water studies of marine turtles, affecting both the ability of researchers to capture turtles and the occurrence of turtles in coastal waters. Strong easterly winds prevailed during the strike netting demonstration, owing to a low pressure system in the Caribbean that would eventually spawn Hurricane Rafael, and these conditions limited our fishing efforts to the protected embayments among the mangrove islands.

Furthermore, no turtles were sighted in these backwaters during our endeavor which could have been a function of the three tropical cyclones (Debby, Helene, and Milton) that impacted our coastal areas earlier in the year. This region experienced “Irmageddon” in 2017 and turtles were scarce after the hurricane owing to drastic changes to the benthic habitats (plants and animals living on the seafloor) in which they feed.

Nonetheless, a tremendous amount of information was relayed among the participants during their time on the water and a dry run of strike netting was performed to give hands-on experience with handling the net. Hopefully, the knowledge gained during these demonstrations will help in the development of an in-water research program for marine turtles in Cape Cod Bay.

Marine turtle research activities and photos by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida were conducted under National Marine Fisheries Service permit 22123 and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission permit MTP-136, and those by the New England Aquarium were conducted under United States Fish and Wildlife Service permit ES69328D.

While the nesting numbers were steady, several storms disrupted hatching success. Southwest Florida’s beaches faced multiple wash-over events, including a tropical wave in June, elevated king tides in July, Tropical Storm Debbie in early August, Tropical Storm Francine’s effects in early September and storm surge from Hurricane Helene at the end of September. Storm surge from Hurricane Milton brought an abrupt end to the season when the remaining nests were washed out. As a result of these storm events, approximately 43% of nests were lost — two nests to predation, and 182 to impacts from storms. An estimated 14,975 hatchlings made it to the Gulf.

The program was originally established to protect nests from predators, primarily raccoons, although today coyotes and hogs are also a problem on Keewaydin Island. Nest predation remained low compared to prior years and sea turtles’ reproductive strategies help buffer against such losses. By nesting multiple times in a season and laying an average of 90 to 100 eggs per nest, sea turtles naturally mitigate the effects of storms and predation. While nesting success may be lower this year, long-term trends in sea turtle reproduction on Keewaydin Island remain encouraging.

About 50 nests were documented when the Conservancy began the project to monitor sea turtle nests on Keewaydin Island in 1983. Nest numbers have increased overtime, and today the project is one of the longest continuously running sea turtle monitoring programs in the U.S. It is estimated that only one in 1,000 sea turtles survives to adulthood, so each individual that can be protected is significant to the survival of these threatened species. While there are signs of recovery, six of the seven species of sea turtles worldwide are still considered threatened or endangered. 

“Through no fault of their own, the number of sea turtles have declined,” said Kathy Worley, director of environmental science at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. “Anything that we can do to increase their numbers and ability to survive is important. Turtles tend to ingest plastic, which causes major health concerns. When they see floating plastic bags, they often mistake it for jellyfish. So, pick up your trash, turn off your lights and remove any obstacles from the beach at night. The sea turtles will appreciate it.”

Read more about our sea turtle work here.

This means that more animals are on the menu across southern Florida, where the nonnative, invasive snakes have decimated populations of foxes, bobcats, raccoons and other animals.

Pythons swallow deer, alligators and other prey whole. What they can eat is limited to and dependent on how big the Burmese python’s mouth opening can stretch. Researchers call this the snake’s gape.

Conservancy of Southwest Florida Biologists Ian Bartoszek and Ian Easterling recently conducted a study in collaboration with Dr. Bruce Jayne from the Department of Biological Science at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, to better understand the ecological impacts of the invasive Burmese python. The team measured the greatest maximum gape recorded in Burmese pythons to date. 

University of Cincinnati Professor Bruce Jayne said measurements of the longest Burmese python (19 feet) and two other very large snakes (15 and 17 feet) captured in South Florida show that the pythons have a gape bigger than even previous mathematical models would suggest.

Previous studies of pythons found the largest gape diameter was 22 centimeters (8.7 inches). But the big snakes in the current study by Jayne and his colleagues Bartoszek and Easterling at the Conservancy had a maximal gape of 26 centimeters (10.2 inches). These measurements equate to a circumference of 32 inches. Knowing the limits on the size of prey that predators can eat can help researchers predict the ecological impact the invasive snakes might have as they move into new areas.

Three large adult female Burmese pythons researched at the Conservancy were examined and used for the data and observations of this study, including the longest documented capture on record. One python measured for data was found by Conservancy biologists while it was ingesting a 77 pound (35-kg) white-tailed deer. The deer was 66.9% of the snake’s mass. 

Conservancy’s Bartoszek states, “Watching an invasive apex predator swallow a full-sized deer in front of you is something that you will never forget. The impact the Burmese python is having on native wildlife cannot be denied. This is a wildlife issue of our time for the Greater Everglades ecosystem.”

In the past 12 years, the Conservancy’s Burmese Python Research and Removal team has removed 770 adult pythons (totaling more than 36,000 pounds). If each of these snakes ate only one deer as big as they could swallow, Jayne estimates that would be a total of more than 13,000 pounds of deer. But of course, these snakes eat many meals during their lifetime. 

What gives pythons the ability to eat such large animals is their incredible mouths. The lower jawbones are not fused at the front, allowing the jaws to stretch wide. Their skin is also elastic that it accounts for more than half the circumference of the maximal gape in large pythons, allowing the snakes to consume prey six times larger than similar sized snakes of some other snake species.

Jayne states, “Besides the large absolute size of the deer that was eaten being impressive, our anatomical measurements indicate this deer was very near the size limit on the prey that could be consumed by this snake. Hence, these snakes resemble over achievers by sometimes testing the limits of what their anatomy allows rather than being slackers that eat only ‘snack size’ prey.”

The Conservancy researchers have documented one other Burmese python in 2018 with a similar story. Although, the Conservancy has seen firsthand two cases of Burmese pythons with a larger native prey species, how often this occurs is still up for questioning. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida is an evidence-based organization, and the python tracking team is staying close to the science. 

“We have been removing pythons and advancing invasive snake science for over a decade. These animals continue to impress us each season and one thing we’ve learned for certain is to not underestimate the Burmese python,” Bartoszek says. 

The Conservancy began its Burmese python research and removal efforts within the bio-region in 2013. As of October 2024, the team has removed over 36,000 pounds (18 tons) of python from an approximately 150-square-mile area in Southwest Florida. Using radio telemetry fieldwork to document behavior and biology, 120 adult Burmese pythons (known as scout snakes) have been radio tagged and tracked to better understand the invasive population. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida’s primary objective is to create a database of behavior and habitat use to better understand python activity. This research helps to inform decision-makers, other biologists, and land managers to develop a control strategy on the apex predator.  

About the Conservancy of Southwest Florida

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida is an environmental conservation nonprofit in Naples, Florida. The organization has been working to protect Southwest Florida’s water, land, wildlife and the future of their 5-county region and beyond for 60 years. The four core departments of Wildlife Rehabilitation, Policy, Environmental Education and Science Research operate in synergy in order to assess environmental issues as a whole. The Burmese Python Research and Removal team has been documenting, assessing and managing the invasive Burmese python for 12 years. For more information, please visit conservancy.org.

Conservancy of Southwest Florida invasive species researchers Ian Bartoszek, Melinda Schuman, and Ian Easterling attended the North American Invasive Species Management (NAISMA) conference in Missoula, Montana. The mission of NAISMA is “to empower invasive species management in North America” and to provide tools to help researchers and land managers address the threats of invasive species. This was an opportunity to present current information about the ground-breaking invasive research being done at the Conservancy. Conferences also give researchers an opportunity to connect with a wide range of professionals working in their field of study and ultimately create new partnerships. In invasive animal research, it is essential to collaborate, as no single organization or entity can battle invasive species alone. We are more effective when we work together on conservation issues.

The Conservancy’s delegation made a powerful impression at the NAISMA conference. For Ian Bartoszek’s presentation, “Utilizing scout snakes as a primary removal tool for Burmese pythons in Southwest Florida”, he condensed the Conservancy team’s decade of research and removal effort and discussed the novel “scout snake” method. The second python presentation was in the form of a poster. Ian Easterling presented “Reproductive frequency and potential of Burmese pythons in Southwest Florida”, showcasing novel observations from the Conservancy biologists in the field. Melinda Schuman’s poster presentation, “Tracking the movement of cane toads (Rhinella marina) within two urban locations in Naples, Florida” offered insight into understanding this invasive animal’s behavior to create a more effective management plan. According to keynote speaker, Dr. Laura Meyerson, invasive vertebrates are responsible for a quarter of all modern global extinctions. This underscores the crucial nature of work done by the Conservancy science team to monitor and maintain local biodiversity and support evidence-based ecosystem management.

The 2024 sea turtle nesting season on Keewaydin Island was starting to slow down and the subsequent hatching season was getting geared up, but a mid-season tropical cyclone had other plans for our nesting beaches.

Debby intensified to a tropical storm well offshore southwest Florida on August 3, and to a hurricane later the next day, but the impacts were felt along our coast given the large size of the system. The outer rain bands produced onshore winds gusting to 40-50 mph, which generated a storm surge of 3-4 ft. Coupled with the high tides, the surge overwashed the beaches on Keewaydin, and the island was breached in some of the narrow areas. Much like Hurricane Idalia the year before, the rough surf eroded the lower portion of the beach and the sand was deposited further inland with the storm tides.

Cages are placed on sea turtle nests to protect from predators (raccoons, coyotes, and hogs), and cages close to the water were washed out while those further up the beach were buried under the deposited sand. Sea turtles developing in the buried nest can tolerate brief flooding by seawater but long periods of submergence will drown the nest. The extra sand deposited on the nest can become compacted, making it difficult for the hatchlings to emerge.

Unlike Idalia last year, the impacts from Debby were earlier in the season and many of the turtle nests had yet to hatch. Despite the drastic changes, however, some hatchlings have emerged since the storm and made their way down the beach. Our science staff and interns continue to evaluate the consequences of the storm on the remaining nests on Keewaydin.