Tadpoles eating toad eggs = bad!
September 15th 2008 01:02
:
toads
All Australians know cane toads are bad news...apart from being as ugly as a bowl of a**holes (not their fault, i know) they are responsible for the death of many native predators, including frog eating snakes, birds and quolls.
But new research, just published in the journal Biological Conservation, shows that by far the biggest victims of cane toads are actually other native frog species.
It seems that tadpoles of native frogs eat cane toad spawn - and the death toll is 100%.
The study documented 11 cases of mass mortality and the death of over 1300 tadpoles of 10 different native frog species.
But, on a brighter note, it seems that since many frogs still breed in ponds without toads, that this mass mortality currently doesn't threaten the persistance of native frog fauna - which is good news given the dramatic decline of many frog species already due to cytrid fungus...
Next post will be non-froggy!!
But new research, just published in the journal Biological Conservation, shows that by far the biggest victims of cane toads are actually other native frog species.
It seems that tadpoles of native frogs eat cane toad spawn - and the death toll is 100%.
The study documented 11 cases of mass mortality and the death of over 1300 tadpoles of 10 different native frog species.
But, on a brighter note, it seems that since many frogs still breed in ponds without toads, that this mass mortality currently doesn't threaten the persistance of native frog fauna - which is good news given the dramatic decline of many frog species already due to cytrid fungus...
Next post will be non-froggy!!
Cane toads cause mass mortality of native tadpoles..
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