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'Toad-proofing' farms could help stop the march of invasive pest (phys.org)

submitted 22 hours ago by resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

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cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/38795

Curtin University research has found farmers making small changes to how they give water to cattle in semi-arid regions could halt the spread of one of Australia's most damaging invasive species—all without disrupting farming operations. Published in Global Ecology and Conservation, the paper reveals straightforward, low-cost changes to cattle troughs and fencing could prevent invasive cane toads from accessing the water they need to survive during hot and dry conditions.

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[–] tal@lemmy.today 8 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

'Toad-proofing' farms could help stop the march of invasive pest

invasive cane toads

Australia's most damaging invasive species

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toad

Because of its voracious appetite, the cane toad has been introduced to many regions of the Pacific and the Caribbean islands as a method of agricultural pest control.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toads_in_Australia

Native to South and mainland Middle America, imported cane toads had been used in Puerto Rico to control sugar cane pests since 1920, and an influential 1932 research paper by Raquel Dexter showed that they largely ate beetle larvae that in turn ate sugar cane.[3] Based on her findings, they were introduced to Hawaii by Cyril Pemberton in the early 1930s, and then introduced to Australia from Hawaii in June 1935 by the Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations, now Sugar Research Australia, in an attempt to control the native grey-backed cane beetle (Dermolepida albohirtum) and French's beetle (Lepidiota frenchi).[4] Those beetles are native to Australia and they are detrimental to sugarcane crops, which are a major source of income for Australia.

The sudden inundation of foreign species has led to severe breakdowns in Australian ecology, after overwhelming proliferation of a number of introduced species, for which the continent has no efficient natural predators or parasites, and which displace native species; in some cases, these species are physically destructive to habitat, as well.

Sounds like all we need is to introduce something that preys on cane toads. That'll do 'er!

[–] finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world 5 points 18 hours ago

Crows have been seen flipping them onto their back and pecking their guts out.