Analysis and Reporting of Existing Data on Low-Density Detection of Brown Treesnakes on Guam

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The U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, requires a cooperative agreement to Dickinson College, Calisle, Pennsylvania. Control of invasive brown treesnakes (BTS) on Guam is a high priority for a number of federal and territorial agencies in order to restore native species and reduce risk of accidentally transporting snakes to other snake-free islands. Of particular importance is how to increase detection rates of BTS for the purposes of control on Guam and early detection on other islands. In 2015, Dr. Scott Boback of Dickinson College was a principal investigator for a field research project on Guam that was jointly pursued by USGS and Dickinson College personnel. The project was designed to better understand spatial ecology and detection of BTS in the Habitat Management Unit (HMU) on Andersen Air Force Base (AAFB). The goals of this project were two-fold. First, how do BTS at low densities behave in terms of movement parameters and habitat selection? Second, can we refine visual searching strategies by understanding the “mis-matches” between microhabitats typically selected by radiotransmitter-implanted snakes versus those in which snakes are found during visual searches?

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