Cane toad wars

289 Pages·2018·7.616 MB·English

by  Richard Shine

The publisher and the University of California Press
Foundation gratefully acknowledge the generous support
of the Ralph and Shirley Shapiro Endowment Fund
in Environmental Studies.
Cane Toad Wars
organisms and environments
Harry W. Greene, Consulting Editor
Cane Toad Wars
Rick Shine
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
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University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2018 by Th e Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Shine, Richard, author.
Title: Cane toad wars / Rick Shine.
Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2018] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: lccn 2017044544 (print) | lccn 2017048226 (ebook) |
isbn 9780520967984 (ebook) | isbn 9780520295100 (paper laminated
cloth (plc) : alk. paper)
Subjects: lcsh: Bufo marinus—Australia. | Biological invasions—Australia.
Classifi cation: lcc ql668.e227 (ebook) | lcc ql668.e227 s55 2018 (print) |
 ddc 597.8/70994—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017044544
Manufactured in the United States of America
26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
Foreword by Harry W. Greene vii
Preface xi
1 (cid:129) An Ecological Catastrophe 1
2 (cid:129) How the Cane Toad Came to Australia 13
3 (cid:129) Arrival of Cane Toads at Fogg Dam 36
4 (cid:129) How Cane Toads Have Adapted and Dispersed 55
5 (cid:129) Th e Impact of Cane Toads on Australian Wildlife 79
6 (cid:129) How the Ecosystem Has Fought Back 108
7 (cid:129) Citizens Take On the Toad 130
8 (cid:129) Th e Quest for a Way to Control the Toad 155
9 (cid:129) A New Toolkit for Fighting the Toad 178
10 (cid:129) Toad Control Moves from the Lab to the Field 203
11 (cid:129) What We’ve Learned 228
Acknowledgments 245
Appendix 247
Bibliography and Suggested Reading 251
Index 259

FOREWORD
Cane Toad Wars is the fi ft eenth installment in the University of California
Press’s Organisms and Environments series, whose unifying themes are the
diversity of life, the ways that living things interact with each other and their
surroundings, and the implications of those relationships for science and soci-
ety. We have sought works that promote unusual and unexpected connections
among seemingly disparate subjects, and that are distinguished by the unique
talents and perspectives of their authors. Previous volumes spanned topics as
diverse as treeshrew behavior and grassland ecology, but none have addressed
such an extremely complex conservation dilemma as the one explored herein.
Cane Toad Wars engagingly recounts the most recent phase in Richard
Shine’s illustrious, career-long obsession with a fascinating continent and its
biota. Previously, Rick had mainly studied the natural history of lizards and
snakes, but here he turns to the ecological, cultural, and political processes
underlying a notorious alien’s success story—indeed, his creatures of choice
are famously emblematic of human intervention gone haywire. Technically,
alien species are those not present in a region prior to modern times; invasive
species are aliens whose exploding populations negatively aff ect native eco-
systems and/or human welfare. Averaging roughly two pounds each, Cane
Toads were introduced from the Neotropics to the Land Down Under in 1935
to control beetle pests in commercial sugarcane. Th ey are veritable eating and
breeding machines and—squat bodies notwithstanding—astonishing long-
distance hoppers. Within decades, these drab (some would say grotesque)
amphibians had failed at their intended purpose but increased dramatically
in population size and distribution, their explosive deployment causing cata-
strophic declines among some endemic wildlife. In the pantheon of invasive
species, Cane Toads were soon superstars.
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