Invasive swamp eels reduce aquatic animal diversity and disproportionately reduce prey for nesting wading birds.

ABSTRACT: Ecosystem restoration often aims to create environmental conditions that support communities of native organisms resembling those prior to alteration by humans. One focus of the multi-decade multi-billion-dollar Florida Everglades restoration effort is to recreate hydrologic conditions in Everglades National Park and associated pulses of aquatic animal prey to support the large colonies of seasonally nesting wading birds that are iconic predators in the ecosystem. Recent studies indicate that invasion of predatory Asian Swamp Eels (Monopterus albus/javanensis) has disrupted the hydrology-mediated production of crayfish and some small fishes in the drainage of first invasion (circa 2012). Here we used a complete community dataset of fish and decapods to report changes to the aquatic communi

SUBMITTER: Pintar MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12102256 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature