GREEN IGUANAS (IGUANA IGUANA): THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN A SOUTH FLORIDA PARK

Authors

Walter E. Meshaka Jr., State Museum of Pennsylvania
Henry T. Smith, Florida Park ServiceFollow
Elizabeth Golden, Florida Department of Environmental Protection
Jon A. Moore, Florida Atlantic University
Stephanie Fitchett, Florida Atlantic University
Ernest M. Cowan, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Park Service
Richard M. Engeman, USDA-APHIS-Wildlife ServicesFollow
Stacey R. Sekscienski, Boca Raton, Florida
Heather L. Cress, John U. Lloyd Beach State Park, Dania Beach, Florida

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

July 2007

Comments

Published in Herpetological Conservation and Biology 2(2):149-156.

Abstract

We examined the demographic response of the Green Iguana (Iguana iguana) to the removal of Raccoons in an urban maritime state park in southern Florida. The rapid growth of iguanas to sexual maturity in an underexploited, if not vacant, niche contributed to the rapid recruitment of a large and growing population during the four and one half years since removal of its limiting predator. We proffer here that at sites where Green Iguanas and high density Raccoons are syntopic, future Raccoon removal programs should be concurrent with an equally concerted effort to remove resident Green Iguanas. In this fashion, by replacing one limiting predator with another, a population explosion can be prevented and an advantage can be maintained in the local control of this exotic species.