Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-5r2nc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-11T07:32:03.727Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 5 - Unwelcome and unpredictable: the sorry saga of cane toads in Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2014

By
Richard Shine  and
Benjamin L. Phillips
Edited by
Adam Stow ,
Norman Maclean  and
Gregory I. Holwell
Richard Shine
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
Benjamin L. Phillips
Affiliation:
The University of Melbourne
Adam Stow
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney
Norman Maclean
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
Gregory I. Holwell
Affiliation:
University of Auckland
Get access

Summary

Summary

The history of biological invasions, and of attempts to combat them, is dominated by stories of futility. Especially in the case of invasive species that have a high public profile, like the cane toad (Rhinella marina) in Australia, the voices of scientists often have been drowned out in the roar of populist political debate. There have been many failures by science as well, beginning with the initial importation of toads for biocontrol, and extending through failed attempts to predict future patterns of toad colonisation and impact, or to devise practical means to ameliorate that impact. In our (highly biased) opinion, progress in understanding such issues and in developing effective means of toad control emerged only from detailed ecological research on toad biology, rather than enthusiastic but poorly informed attempts to find better ways to slaughter toads. The story of cane toad science in Australia is a cautionary tale for our ability to predict the future, because, to date, we have done an abysmal job of doing so.

‘In the biological control of insect pests, … perhaps more than in any other [field], the path to successful achievement is strewn with the remains of optimistic attempts which have ended in abject failure. … Such a project is not to be embarked upon lightheartedly, but only after the most mature consideration, since a false step may have most disastrous … consequences through the upsetting of the whole biological balance.’ R. W. Mungomery (1934, p. 5), written the year before he brought cane toads to Australia.

Type
Chapter
Information
Austral Ark
The State of Wildlife in Australia and New Zealand
 , pp. 83 - 104
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anonymous. (1934). Toads save sugar crop. Nature, 134, 877–887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beckmann, C., Shine, R. (2009). Are Australia’s birds at risk due to the invasive cane toad?Conservation Biology, 23, 1544–1549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beckmann, C., Shine, R. (2010). The power of myth: the (non) impact of invasive cane toads (Bufo marinus) on domestic chickens (Gallus gallus). Animal Production Science, 50, 847–851.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beckmann, C., Shine, R. (2012). How many of Australia’s ground-nesting birds are likely to be at risk from the invasive cane toad (Rhinella marina)?Emu, 112, 83–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boland, C. R. J. (2004). Introduced cane toads are active nest predators and competitors of rainbow bee-eaters: observational and experimental evidence. Biological Conservation, 120, 53–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breeden, K. (1963). Cane toad (Bufo marinus). Wildlife in Australia, 1, 31.Google Scholar
Brown, G. P., Phillips, B. L., Shine, R. (2011). The ecological impact of invasive cane toads on tropical snakes: field data do not support predictions from laboratory studies. Ecology, 92, 422–431.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, G. P., Ujvari, B., Madsen, T., Shine, R. (2013). Invader impact clarifies the roles of top-down and bottom-up effects on tropical snake populations. Functional Ecology, 27, 351–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burnett, S. (1997). Colonising cane toads cause population declines in native predators: reliable anecdotal information and management implications. Pacific Conservation Biology, 3, 65–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buzzacott, J. H. (1938). Giant toads will not poison fowls. Cane Growers’ Quarterly Bulletin, July 1939, 101.Google Scholar
Cabrera-Guzmán, E., Crossland, M. R., Shine, R. (2011). Can we use the tadpoles of Australian frogs to reduce recruitment of invasive cane toads?Journal of Applied Ecology, 48, 462–470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cabrera-Guzmán, E., Crossland, M. R., Shine, R. (2012). Predation on the eggs and larvae of invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina) by native aquatic invertebrates in tropical Australia. Biological Conservation, 153, 1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Catling, P. C., Hertog, A., Burt, R. J., Wombey, J. C., Forrester, R. I. (1999). The short-term effect of cane toads (Bufo marinus) on native fauna in the Gulf Country of the Northern Territory. Wildlife Research, 26, 161–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Covacevich, J., Archer, M. (1975). The distribution of the cane toad, Bufo marinus, in Australia and its effects on indigenous vertebrates. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 17, 305–310.Google Scholar
Crossland, M. R., Shine, R. (2012). Embryonic exposure to conspecific chemicals suppresses cane toad growth and survival. Biology Letters, 8, 226–229.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crossland, M. R., Haramura, T., Salim, A. A., Capon, R. J., Shine, R. (2012). Exploiting intraspecific competitive mechanisms to control invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina). Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 279, 3436–3442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dexter, R. (1932). The food habits of the imported toad Bufo marinus in the sugar cane sections of Puerto Rico. Proceedings of the Fourth Congress of International Sugar Cane Technologists, San Juan, 74, 1–6.Google Scholar
Doody, J. S., Green, B., Sims, R., et al. (2006). Indirect impacts of invasive cane toads (Bufo marinus) on nest predation in pignosed turtles (Carettochelys insculpta). Wildlife Research, 33, 49–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doody, J. S., Green, B., Rhind, D., et al. (2009). Population-level declines in Australian predators caused by an invasive species. Animal Conservation, 12, 46–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Easteal, S., van Beurden, E. K., Floyd, R. B., Sabath, M. D. (1985). Continuing geographical spread of Bufo marinus in Australia: range expansion between 1974 and 1980. Journal of Herpetology, 19, 185–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Florance, D., Webb, J. K., Dempster, T., et al. (2011). Excluding access to invasion hubs can contain the spread of an invasive vertebrate. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 278, 2900–2908.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freeland, W. J. (2004). An Assessment of the Introduced Cane Toad’s (Bufo marinus Linnaeus) Impacts on the Native Australian Fauna, with Particular Reference to the Eastern Kimberley Region. Unpublished Report to the WA Department of Industry and Resources. Palmerston, NT: HLA-Envirosciences Pty Ltd.
Freeland, W. J., Kerin, S. H. (1988). Within habitat relationships between invading Bufo marinus and Australian species of frog during the tropical dry season. Australian Wildlife Research, 15, 293–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeland, W. J., Martin, K. C. (1985). The rate of range expansion by Bufo marinus in northern Australia, 1980–84. Australian Wildlife Research, 12, 550–559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Froggatt, W. W. (1936). The introduction of the Great Mexican Toad Bufo marinus into Australia. The Australian Naturalist, 9, 163–164.Google Scholar
Frost, D. R., Donnellan, S. C., Raxworthy, C., et al. (2006). The amphibian tree of life. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 297, 1–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González-Bernal, E., Greenlees, M. J., Brown, G. P., Shine, R. (2013). Interacting biocontrol programs: invasive cane toads reduce rates of breakdown of cowpats by dung beetles. Austral Ecology, 38, 891–895.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodacre, W. A. (1947). The giant toad (Bufo marinus) an enemy of bees. Agricultural Gazette of NSW, 58, 374–375.Google Scholar
Greenlees, M. J., Shine, R. (2011). Impacts of eggs and tadpoles of the invasive cane toad (Bufo marinus) on aquatic predators in tropical Australia. Austral Ecology, 36, 53–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenlees, M. J., Brown, G. P., Webb, J. K., Phillips, B. L., Shine, R. (2006). Effects of an invasive anuran (the cane toad, Bufo marinus) on the invertebrate fauna of a tropical Australian floodplain. Animal Conservation, 9, 431–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenlees, M. J., Brown, G. P., Webb, J. K., Phillips, B. L., Shine, R. (2007). Do invasive cane toads (Chaunus marinus) compete with Australian frogs (Cyclorana australis)?Austral Ecology, 32, 900–907.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenlees, M., Phillips, B. L., Shine, R. (2010). Adjusting to a toxic invader: native Australian frog learns not to prey on cane toads. Behavioral Ecology, 21, 966–971.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grigg, G., Taylor, A., McCallum, H., Fletcher, L. (2006). Monitoring the impact of cane toads (Bufo marinus) on Northern Territory frogs: a progress report. In Science of Cane Toad Invasion and Control. Proceedings of the Invasive Animals CRC/CSIRO/Qld NRM&W Cane Toad Workshop, Brisbane, June 2006 (eds. Molloy, K. L. and Henderson, W. R.). Canberra, ACT: Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre, pp. 47–54.Google Scholar
Hagman, M., Shine, R. (2006). Spawning-site selection by feral cane toads (Bufo marinus) at an invasion front in tropical Australia. Austral Ecology, 31, 551–558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hagman, M., Shine, R. (2009). Larval alarm pheromones as a potential control for invasive cane toads (Bufo marinus) in tropical Australia. Chemoecology, 19, 211–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewitt, G. C. (1956). The giant American toad. Walkabout, 22, 45.Google Scholar
Kaemper, W., Webb, J. K., Crowther, M. S., Greenlees, M. J., Shine, R. (2013). Behaviour and survivorship of a dasyurid predator (Antechinus flavipes) in response to encounters with the toxic and invasive cane toad (Rhinella marina). Australian Mammalogy, 35, 136–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Google Scholar
Kearney, M. R., Phillips, B. L., Tracy, C. R., et al. (2008). Modelling species distributions without using species distributions: the cane toad in Australia under current and future climates. Ecography, 31, 423–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolbe, J. J., Kearney, M., Shine, R. (2010). Modeling the consequences of thermal trait variation for the cane toad invasion of Australia. Ecological Applications, 20, 2273–2285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kraus, F. (2009). Alien Reptiles and Amphibians: A Scientific Compendium and Analysis. Netherlands: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Letnic, M., Ward, S. (2005). Observations of freshwater crocodiles (Crocodylus johnstoni) preying upon cane toads (Bufo marinus) in the northern territory. Herpetofauna, 35, 98–100.Google Scholar
Letnic, M., Webb, J. K., Shine, R. (2008). Invasive cane toads (Bufo marinus) cause mass mortality of freshwater crocodiles (Crocodylus johnstoni) in tropical Australia. Biological Conservation, 141, 1773–1782.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lettoof, D. C., Greenlees, M. J., Stockwell, M., Shine, R. (2013). Do invasive cane toads affect the parasite burdens of native Australian frogs?International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, 2, 155–164.Google ScholarPubMed
Lever, C. (2001). The Cane Toad. The History and Ecology of a Successful Colonist. Otley, West Yorkshire: Westbury Academic and Scientific Publishing.Google Scholar
Llewelyn, J., Schwarzkopf, L., Alford, R., Shine, R. (2010). Something different for dinner? Responses of a native Australian predator (the keelback snake) to an invasive prey species (the cane toad). Biological Invasions, 12, 1045–1051.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Llewelyn, J., Schwarzkopf, L., Phillips, B. L., Shine, R. (2014). After the crash: how do predators adjust following the invasion of a novel toxic prey type?Austral Ecology, 39, 190–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowe, T. (1999). Feral Future: The Untold Story of Australia’s Exotic Invaders. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McCallum, H. (2006). Modelling potential control strategies for cane toads. In Science of Cane Toad Invasion and Control. Proceedings of the Invasive Animals CRC/CSIRO/Qld NRM&W Cane Toad Workshop, Brisbane, June 2006 (eds. Molloy, K. L. and Henderson, W. R.). Canberra, ACT: Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre, pp. 123–133.Google Scholar
Mungomery, R. (1934). The control of insect pests of sugar cane. The Cane Growers’ Quarterly Bulletin, 2, 1–8.Google Scholar
Mungomery, R. (1936). A survey of the feeding habits of the giant toad (Bufo marinus L.), and notes on its progress since its introduction to Queensland. Proceedings of the Queensland Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, 7, 63–74.Google Scholar
Nelson, D. W. M., Crossland, M. R., Shine, R. (2011). Behavioural responses of native predators to an invasive toxic prey species. Austral Ecology, 36, 605–611.Google Scholar
O’Donnell, S., Webb, J. K., Shine, R. (2010). Conditioned taste aversion enhances the survival of an endangered predator imperiled by a toxic invader. Journal of Applied Ecology, 47, 558–565.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peacock, T. (2007). Community On-Ground Cane Toad Control in the Kimberley. Review for Western Australia Department of Environment and Conservation. Canberra, ACT: Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre.Google Scholar
Pearson, D. J., Greenlees, M., Ward-Fear, G., Shine, R. (2009). Predicting the ecological impact of cane toads (Bufo marinus) on camaenid land snails in north-western Australia. Wildlife Research, 36, 533–540.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, D. J., Greenlees, M. J., Phillips, B. L., et al. (2014). Behavioural responses of reptile predators to invasive cane toads in tropical Australia. Austral Ecology, 39, 448–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, B. L., Shine, R. (2004). Adapting to an invasive species: toxic cane toads induce morphological change in Australian snakes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101, 17 150–17 155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, B. L., Shine, R. (2006a). Allometry and selection in a novel predator–prey system: Australian snakes and the invading cane toad. Oikos, 112, 122–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, B. L., Shine, R. (2006b). An invasive species induces rapid adaptive change in a native predator: cane toads and black snakes in Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 273, 1545–1550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, B. L., Brown, G. P., Shine, R. (2003). Assessing the potential impact of cane toads Bufo marinus on Australian snakes. Conservation Biology, 17, 1738–1747.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, B. L., Brown, G. P., Webb, J., Shine, R. (2006). Invasion and the evolution of speed in toads. Nature, 439, 803CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Phillips, B. L., Chipperfield, J. D., Kearney, M. R. (2008). The toad ahead: challenges of modelling the range and spread of an invasive species. Wildlife Research, 35, 222–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pizzatto, L., Shine, R. (2011). The effects of experimentally infecting Australian tree frogs with lungworms from invasive cane toads. International Journal of Parasitology, 41, 943–949.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pizzatto, L., Shilton, C. M., Shine, R. (2010). Infection dynamics of the lungworm Rhabdias pseudosphaerocephala in its natural host, the cane toad Bufo marinus, and in novel hosts (Australian frogs). Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 46, 1152–1164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pizzatto, L., Kelehear, C., Dubey, S., Barton, D., Shine, R. (2012). Host-parasite relationships during a biologic invasion: 75 years post-invasion, cane toads and sympatric Australian frogs retain separate lungworm faunas. Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 48, 951–961.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pramuk, J. (2007). Phylogeny of South American Bufo (Anura: Bufonidae) inferred from combined evidence. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 146, 407–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price-Rees, S. J., Brown, G. P., Shine, R. (2010). Predation on toxic cane toads (Bufo marinus) may imperil bluetongue lizards (Tiliqua scincoides intermedia, Scincidae) in tropical Australia. Wildlife Research, 37, 166–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price-Rees, S. J., Brown, G. P., Shine, R. (2012). Interacting impacts of invasive plants and invasive toads on native lizards. American Naturalist, 179, 413–422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rayward, A. (1974). Giant toads: a threat to Australian wildlife. Wildlife, 17, 506–507.Google Scholar
Shanmuganathan, T., Pallister, J., Doody, S., et al. (2010). Biological control of the cane toad in Australia: a review. Animal Conservation, 13 (Suppl. 1), 16–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shine, R. (2010). The ecological impact of invasive cane toads (Bufo marinus) in Australia. Quarterly Review of Biology, 85, 253–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shine, R. (2012). Invasive species as drivers of evolutionary change: cane toads in Australia. Evolutionary Applications, 5, 107–116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shine, R. (2014). A review of ecological interactions between native frogs and invasive cane toads in Australia. Austral Ecology, 39, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shine, R., Doody, J. S. (2011). Invasive-species control: understanding conflicts between researchers and the general community. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 9, 400–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shine, R., Greenlees, M., Crossland, M. R., Nelson, D. (2009). The myth of the toad-eating frog. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 7, 359–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simberloff, D. (2003). Confronting introduced species: a form of xenophobia?Biological Invasions, 5, 179–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, J., Phillips, B. (2006). Toxic tucker: the potential impact of cane toads on Australian reptiles. Pacific Conservation Biology, 12, 40–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Somaweera, R., Shine, R. (2012). The (non) impact of invasive cane toads on freshwater crocodiles at Lake Argyle in tropical Australia. Animal Conservation, 15, 152–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Somaweera, R., Somaweera, N., Shine, R. (2010). Frogs under friendly fire: how accurately can the general public recognize invasive species?Biological Conservation, 143, 1477–1484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Somaweera, R., Crossland, M. R., Shine, R. (2011). Assessing the potential impact of invasive cane toads on a commercial freshwater fishery in tropical Australia. Wildlife Research, 38, 380–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutherst, R. W., Floyd, R. B., Maywald, G. F. (1995). The potential geographical distribution of the cane toad, Bufo marinus L. in Australia. Conservation Biology, 9, 294–299.Google Scholar
Tingley, R., Greenlees, M. J., Shine, R. (2012). Hydric balance and locomotor performance of an anuran (Rhinella marina) invading the Australian arid zone. Oikos, 121, 1959–1965.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tingley, R., Phillips, B. L., Letnic, M., et al. (2013). Identifying optimal barriers to halt the invasion of cane toads Rhinella marina in arid Australia. Journal of Applied Ecology, 50, 129–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turvey, N. (2009). The toad’s tale. Hot Topics from The Tropics, 1, 1–10.Google Scholar
Ujvari, B., Mun, H., Conigrave, A. D., et al. (2013). Isolation breeds naivety: Island living robs Australian varanid lizards of toad-toxin immunity via four-base-pair mutation. Evolution, 67, 289–294.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Urban, M., Phillips, B. L., Skelly, D. K., Shine, R. (2007). The cane toad’s (Chaunus marinus) increasing ability to invade Australia is revealed by a dynamically updated range model. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 274, 1413–1419.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Urban, M., Phillips, B. L., Skelly, D. K., Shine, R. (2008). A toad more traveled: the heterogeneous invasion dynamics of cane toads in Australia. American Naturalist, 171, E134–E148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vallinoto, M., Sequeira, F., Sodre, D., et al. (2009). Phylogeny and biogeography of the Rhinella marina species complex (Amphibia, Bufonidae) revisited: implications for Neotropical diversification hypotheses. Zoologica Scripta, 39, 128–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Beurden, E. K. (1981). Bioclimatic limits to the spread of Bufo marinus in Australia: a baseline. Proceedings of the Ecological Society of Australia, 11, 143–149.Google Scholar
Ward-Fear, G., Brown, G. P., Greenlees, M., Shine, R. (2009). Maladaptive traits in invasive species: in Australia, cane toads are more vulnerable to predatory ants than are native frogs. Functional Ecology, 23, 559–568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward-Fear, G., Brown, G. P., Shine, R. (2010). Using a native predator (the meat ant, Iridomyrmex reburrus) to reduce the abundance of an invasive species (the cane toad, Bufo marinus) in tropical Australia. Journal of Applied Ecology, 47,273–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterhouse, D. F. (1974). The biological control of dung. Scientific American, 230, 100–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, J. K., Brown, G. P., Child, T., et al. (2008). A native dasyurid predator (common planigale, Planigale maculata) rapidly learns to avoid toxic cane toads. Austral Ecology, 33, 821–829.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, A. W., Shine, R. (2009). The extra-limital spread of an invasive species via “stowaway” dispersal: toad to nowhere?Animal Conservation, 12, 38–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×