The abundance of seasonally nesting wading birds is an important indicator for the success of Everglades restoration efforts. Birds such as the white ibis and little blue heron depend on the wetlands to feed their chicks, primarily with small fish. However, FIU’s Nathan Dorn found there has been an 80% loss of the prey base for wading birds in Taylor Slough in the Everglades.

Electrofishing surveys confirmed that the near disappearance of crayfish and other small fish from the slough is due to predation by invasive swamp eels. “They don’t behave like any of our native fish,” Dorn says of the eels. ““It’s a really novel predator with some novel traits and it’s a new sort of loss factor for our fish in the system.” It’s still unclear how the ecosystem will adapt to the new predator.

• Nathan Dorn