New Tools For Cane Toad Control

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New Tools for Cane Toad Control

From Environment and Conservation News

“New tools for cane toad control?  Recent discoveries in pheromones and parasites” was the title of a recent seminar at which some of Australia’s foremost researchers presented innovative research findings on cane toad biology.

Image from http://www.daylife.com/photo/08uH6rQbwabfd

The seminar was the second in the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre’s (IA CRC) “Breakthrough Seminar Series” and was opened by Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment Dr Sally Talbot.

Summarising his group’s research on the biology of the cane toad at Fogg Dam in the Northern Territory, Professor Rick Shine from the University of Sydney spoke about his and researcher Crystal Kelehear’s discovery of the parasitic lungworm Rhabdias.

Rhabdias has been identified as a possible control agent as it debilitates toads and slows their ability to spread.

This ecologically based approach to control still requires detailed studies to check that native frogs, like their eastern states counterparts from where the lungworm originates, are not significantly impacted by the parasite.

Other research presented at the seminar included a cane toad killing spray developed by Dr David Dall and the work of Professor Rob Capon from the University of Queensland.

Professor Capon’s research into the chemical ecology of cane toads, which builds on observational work by Professor Shine, has identified an alarm pheromone made by cane toad tadpoles when they are in distress which causes other tadpoles to fell.  It is hoped the pheromone can be isolated and used to disrupt cane toad reproduction.

Professor Shine is also collaborating with DEC Principal Research Scientist Dr David Pearson to study interactions between cane toads and Kimberley fauna.

“This will enable us to identify species at risk and thus establish conservation priorities,” David said.

Since December 2004, the State Government has allocated more than $10 million to address the threat of cane toads.  IA CRC Chief Executive Officer Professor Tony Peacock is reviewing the effectiveness of on-ground toad control to assist the State Government in making future investment decisions.