COURIER MAIL (Brisbane, Australia) 19 July 07 Toads get a leg up
Cane toads are not causing the ecological catastrophe for which they have long been blamed.
A leading researcher into the dreaded amphibians says field and laboratory trials tell a different story to what has been a mantra for scientists and naturalists for decades.
In an article published in Australasian Science magazine, Professor Rick Shine of the University of Sydney said most native species were not directly affected by cane toads.
Native predators were adapting rapidly to toads in ways that enabled them to coexist and the amphibians were evolving to be good little Australians such as in helping to reduce mosquito numbers.
Professor Shine and a team of scientists are working at Gogg Dam on the Adelaide River floodplain near Darwin to see what happens as toads advance across the Northern Territory.
They ate invertebrates and competed with frogs but studies showed the effects were small.
He said while high mortality rates were seen in frogs and about 90 per cent of goannas died when toads arrived in a habitat, overall effects had been "very patchy".
A bigger issue was toads poisoning animals that tried to eat them.
"Many species really aren't at risk because they are closely related to Asian species that still have the genetic baggage to be able to process toads and to deal with toxins or recognise that you shouldn't eat them," Professor Shine said.
The keelback, a common snake with Asian ancestry, ate toads without problems.
Snakes most in trouble were venomous species such as king browns and death adders which experienced high mortality rates when toads arrived.
Toads get a leg up

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