Basically, he traps mosquitos and tests them for Burmese Python (an invasive species in Florida) blood and as a result has been able to keep tabs on the spread of the snakes.
Reeves studied their DNA to see if Florida mosquitoes bit invasive Burmese pythons. For his research, which was published Jan. 17, he captured mosquitoes to see if they had fed on pythons in the area. That information would tell him whether or not pythons were in the area to track the species’ location. Reeves conducted this experiment from the end of 2015 to the end of 2016. By tracking where mosquitoes bite the snakes, he could find where they were living in the Everglades. “The python populations are expanding northward,” said Reeves, “so going into the future, it’s going to be really important to monitor their spread and determine where they occur.”
