Current Population Trend: Increasing The cane toad is a large, warty, poisonous amphibian native to South and Central America and considered to be one of the worst invasive species in the world. They were intro
This area lies near the southernmost limit of the cane toad invasion front (Phillips et al., 2006), with toads distributed in a patchy fashion across the landscape. Table 1. Sites, co-ordinates, a brief description and number of anurans collected from the northern coast of NSW, Australia,...
Cane toads (Rhinella marina) have been spreading across Australia since the late 1930s, evolving novel morphologies and behaviours that have accelerated their rate of dispersal3. These traits include faster individual growth rates, increased relative leg length and higher endurance4,5 in toads at the...
However, the infective organisms that survived the journey continue to affect the dynamics of the toad in its new environment. In Australia, the native-range lungworm Rhabdias pseudosphaerocephala decreases its host's cardiac capacity, as well as growth and survival, but not rate of dispersal. ...
In the case of the cane toad, the invaded range in Australia contains many predators that are susceptible to the toxin, and willing to attack adult toads (especially at the invasion front19), favouring increased allocation of resources to toxin production. Additionally, cane toads in many parts...
The cane toad was introduced to Australia in the hope that it would control two species of beetle (French’s cane beetle and the greyback cane beetle) which were decimating sugar cane crops. (The beetles’ larvae were eating the roots and stunting, if not killing, the plants.) As it tur...
and they reproduced rapidly andflourished. The country’s cane toad population now numbers in the millions and covers most of northeastern Australia. The toads are advancing westward by 40–60 km (25–40 miles) per year. In response, the Australian government is taking active measures to humanel...
Professor Hirotaka Komine with Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) along with their colleagues from Australia's James Cook University wanted to find out whether the artificially large food source that ALAN makes available in a particular location had any impact on the cane toad. ...