16 Sep Training for Survival: Protecting Predators from Invasive Species
Invasive species are an issue that are found all over the world. We have spoken a few times on a notorious species that has taken over our own area, the Spotted Lanternfly. Many locations have other species that are taking over their ecosystems.
When we look into a particular ecosystem within Australia, there is an invasive of a Cane Toad from South America that was introduced almost 100 years ago, in the 1930s. As they were initially brought into this ecosystem to “control pestilent beetles, they ravaged the country’s ecosystems—and their disruption continues today. These invasive amphibians secrete toxins from their skin, killing pets and other predators that eat them.” One of the species that has been strongly affected by the presence of these toads are the yellow-spotted monitor lizard. Their population has dropped “by more than 90 percent in most areas where cane toads invaded, with cascading effects on entire ecosystems” due to the fact that these lizards are ingesting the toads.
The question now arises, what can we do to help restore the necessary balance of this ecosystem. Instead of approaching the issue by trying to overcome the raging South America Cane Toad population, scientists are turning their focus towards the yellow-spotted monitor lizard. It was discovered that when the lizards were eating the tadpoles and young cane toads, they were falling sick but they were not dying. It was only when adult cane toads were being eaten were the monitor lizards dying. By doing the unexpected, of actually releasing the young invasive cane toads to anticipated invasion areas, scientists are actually providing a learning opportunity for the predators to be able to identify that this is not a species that they should be eating and causes harm when done so.
“For the new work, the researchers first identified seven areas in Australia’s tropical Kimberly region that would soon be overrun by cane toads. They then released a total of about 200,000 eggs, tadpoles and young cane toads across three of the seven sites during two years’ wet seasons. The team used remote infrared and motion-detecting cameras to record the yellow-spotted monitor populations at each site before and after the adult cane toads eventually invaded.
The study found that monitor populations exposed to the young “teacher toads” often survived the adults’ influx. In completely unexposed areas, however, the lizards virtually disappeared after the big toads showed up. “It’s a management strategy that’s now being adopted,” Ward-Fear says, adding that Indigenous groups and wildlife management agencies have already begun using it based on the study’s evidence.”
This discovery of this new methodology to combating invasive species is an incredible opportunity to dive into its application to other ecosystems that are experiencing similar issues. Not all invasive species act or affect others entirely the same way but this is a step towards developing and implementing new successful measures is a step in the right direction.
Read the article for more information: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/releasing-baby-cane-toads-teaches-predators-to-avoid-toxic-adults/
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