This week we were introduced to our biodiversity project. We either chose the endangered species part, or the invasive part. I chose the invasive species part. Invasive species is just what it sounds like-a species that is not native to the land they are living in. My group chose the cane toad as our invasive species.
The cane toad’s scientific name is Rhinella marina. The Cane Toad has to stay moist. It was native to South and Central America, but they were transported to the Caribbean and other islands. They live in areas like woodlands, low woodlands, low shrubbery, low open forest and open forests. They will also live in wet, damp areas. The cane toad is a large amphibian, about the size of a medium teacup. It’s average weight is about 2.5 pounds. It is incredibly toxic, and has collapsed many ecosystems because of its toxins.
The cane toads will eat anything small enough to fit in it’s mouth. Mostly small rodents, small birds, bats, and reptiles. There are not many organisms that can eat it without dying, but some eels can. Meat ants are also not affected by their toxins, and some birds can flip it over and attack from the underside. But there are not a lot of natural predators to the cane toads.
Cane toads were first native to South and Central America, but in 1935, the Australians had a problem with cane beetles, which were destroying the harvest a manufacturing of cane sugar. The cane toads were introduced to the Caribbean and other islands. They were also introduced to Australia to fix the cane beetle problem. But that didn’t work out very well, because though they didn’t eat a single beetle, they created a new problem. Cane toads collapse ecosystems. BIG time. They actually kill the bigger predators, like crocodiles and some large fish. They have driven some predators to extinction because of their poison, and they actually don’t harm the smaller organisms very much. Some of the bigger organisms are becoming endangered or extinct, so the smaller prey is taking this as a chance to overpopulate the ecosystem. So there is some species extinct, and some WAY overpopulated.
Cane toads are hard to kill off. They have been depleting slightly, because there are some of the toads infected with a lungworm parasite. Lungworm parasites can make the adult toads move slower, so that they are easier to catch. And about 30% of the baby toads are killed by this parasite. There is another way that the toads have been depleting. The tadpole babies are able to shoot an ‘alarm pheromone’ into the water to tell the other tadpoles to be aware of any danger. But this is not such a hot idea, since about half of the tadpoles die of fright before they reach adulthood, and the survivors are half the size they should be. The toads are already technically doing something about themselves, and the Australian government is already thinking about what to do about the toads.
S&EP: SP8: Communicating Information
For the project, we have to build some sort of poster or online way of communicating the information that we gathered about our species. My group chose to do an online infographic, a poster with timelines, images, and text to communicate information. I learned how to use an infographic maker called easel.ly to create our infographic. It contains all of the information about cane toads. This helped to teach me how to create an infographic, and how to communicate the known information in a fun and easy way.
XCC: Cause and Effect
The cane toads are a great example of a cause and effect relationship. The cane beetles were the reason they were brought to Australia. That is the cause. And the collapsing of the ecosystems, the species being driven to extinction, and others overpopulating. That’s the effect. I think that the people that brought the toads to Australia should’ve checked to make sure that they would actually catch and eat the beetles. Then they could be all like, ‘Oh, they won’t solve the problem. Guess we should do something else about the cane beetles.’ That is what they should’ve done.
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