Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) are constricting snak...

Question

Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) are constricting snakes that can reach enormous sizes (up to 7 meters in length). They are native to Southeast Asia but were released into southern Florida from the pet trade. Many other snakes occur naturally in this area. Are the introduced pythons a problem?

Pythons are generalist predators, consuming a wide variety of prey including birds, mammals ranging from rodents to deer, and alligators. A road survey showed a 99 percent decrease in the frequency of raccoon and opossum observations within python areas from 2003 to 2011. Rabbits and foxes have also disappeared from the area. Do you think food availability limits, or could limit, the carrying capacity of Burmese pythons in the Everglades?

Accepted Answer

Hey everyone, let's take a look at this question together determine the factor or factors that has or have an effect on the carrying capacity of an area for population. Now, let's remember what the term carrying capacity means. Now, we know from the word just by looking at it, that it has to do with the capacity Of being able to carry something. So, for example, when we're talking about having a glass jar that is oz big, we know that it can only hold up to 16 oz of that liquid in it. And when we're talking about the carrying capacity of population, we're referring to the population as a whole. So here's our population and what would contribute to keeping that population at this size. So we're talking about certain environmental factors that could limit the population size, like having enough food or shelter or other species to mate with things like that. And so, looking at our answer choices, which of those are factors that could affect the carrying capacity of an area for a population. And the answer choice D is the correct answer, because food supply, water supply and habitat are all environmental factors that could have a limit on this population size here, because they could run out of food, water or shelter, and that would have an effect on how big that population is for that area. I hope you found this video to be helpful. Thank you and goodbye

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