Origin of Invasive Species and Date and Place of Introduction
For example, one place of Introduction of the Cane toad, marked in red in the map, is Australia and is one of the most important countries when dealing with the invasion of the Cane Toad. The Cane Toad was introduced in Australia in 1935 by the Australian Bureau of Sugar Experimental Stations (Markula, Csurhes & Hannan-Jones). They transported one hundred Cane Toads from Hawaii to a Experimental Station situated in Cairns and were released on July of 1935 and continued to 1936 in Queensland when they had breaded to about 3000 Cane Toads in the Experimental Station (Markula, Csurhes & Hannan-Jones). The Cane Toad was introduced in Australia because of problems with French and greyblack Cane beetles (Markula, Csurhes & Hannan-Jones). These Cane beetles’ larvae would eat the sugarcane crops’ roots and stop them from growing (Markula, Csurhes & Hannan-Jones). Due to its rapid breeding, the Cane Toad occupied the city Brisbane which is one of the biggest Cities in Queensland and was found in the 1940s not even a decade from when the cane from was introduced (Markula, Csurhes & Hannan-Jones). In the 1990s the Cane Toad was found occupying nearly one half of Queensland (Markula, Csurhes & Hannan-Jones). They traveled to New South Wales in the 1960s and went to the Kakadu National Park in the early 2000s in the summer (Markula, Csurhes & Hannan-Jones). Kakadu National Park is about three thousand kilometers from Brisbane where they were originally introduced (“Brisbane to Kakadu National Park”). In Fig 3, one can clearly see the distribution of Cane Toads in Australia through time.
The origin of the Cane Toad is near the central Americas and the Northern part of South America. The Cane Toad originates from western Mexico and in Texas near the Río Grande Valley, which is located on the edge of Texas (Markula, Csurhes & Hannan-Jones). It continues down the Americas till it reaches Brazil, Argentina, Tobago, and the Pearl Islands (Markula, Csurhes & Hannan-Jones). The origin of the Cane Toad in the map can be seen in the section of the map-highlighted blue. The method that the cane Toad was introduced was by humans attempting to get rid of species that effected human crops since they are great predators. Because of this Cane Toads affected many countries, but humans didn’t expect it to be negative when they first brought them in.
Another place of Introduction of the Cane Grenada, Jamaica, ailand, h as main examples of introduction of the Cane Toad and there are many other countries that were intro is in the Philippines. In the Philippines it was introduced in 1934 in a similar time and for a similar purpose as the Australians ("Risk Assessments for exotic Reptiles and Amphibians introduced to Australia– Cane Toad "). They were introduced to get rid of insects such as the cane beetle in sugarcane plantations as well since they stunted their growth due to damagement of the roots. ("Risk Assessments for exotic Reptiles and Amphibians introduced to Australia– Cane Toad "). The Cane Toad was introduced specifically in 1934 in Luzon, which is a northern island of the Philippines, but the cane toads that were being used for these crops had escaped to the countryside of Luzon and spread to Southern Mindanao by the year 1949 due to both human introduction and natural expansion of the population ("Risk Assessments for exotic Reptiles and Amphibians introduced to Australia– Cane Toad "), which is the second largest island after Luzon (“Mindanao”). In Figure 4 one can see the map of the Philippines divided in to the separate islands where the Cane Toad was introduced.
Not only was the Cane Toad introduced to big countries like Australia and the Philippines, they were introduced to smaller countries such as Fiji in Oceania. In 1935, 67 cane toads were introduced in Fiji for the objective to terminate pests that were destroying sugarcane crops and bananas as well ("Risk Assessments for exotic Reptiles and Amphibians introduced to Australia– Cane Toad "). The Cane Toads reproduced rapidly and it was said that they were found breeding in 1937 and that their offspring were spread to Viti Levu ("Risk Assessments for exotic Reptiles and Amphibians introduced to Australia– Cane Toad "), which is the largest island in Fiji (“Introducing Nadi, Suva & Viti Levu”). Also, fifty cane toad tadpoles were introduced to other islands called Taveuni and Rabi ("Risk Assessments for exotic Reptiles and Amphibians introduced to Australia– Cane Toad "). Figure 5 is a cane toad from Fiji.
These three are only just the main examples of introduction of the Cane Toad and there are many other countries and places that were introduced to the cane toad such as Florida, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Grenada, Jamaica, Mauritius, the Hawaiian Islands, and Papua New Guinea ("Risk Assessments for exotic Reptiles and Amphibians introduced to Australia– Cane Toad"). The Countries colored in red in Figure 2 are the countries that the Cane Toad was introduced to.