A Toxic Cane Toad: Super-quick evolution has allowed the cane toad, above, to invade Australia at a rate of 30 miles per year today, compared with seven miles per year in the 1950s.
Posted on 02/15/2006 1:30:20 PM PST by PatrickHenry
Fat, toxic toads at the leading edge of an Australian invasion have evolved longer legs than those behind the front lines, report biologists.
The alarming discovery not only means the toads can spread more quickly over the continent, but it raises the possibility that under the right conditions, animal evolution can happen in just decades, not eons.
That, in turn, has major implications for animals adapting to global warming, as well as biological pest control projects, which generally take for granted that carefully studied animals introduced to fight off invasive species can not evolve into something troublesome.
The inexorable, seven-decade-long expansion of cane toads from their disastrous introduction to Queensland in 1935 has long been monitored by biologists.
One such biologist was recently driving along a toad-crowded road one night, along the invasion front about 40 miles east of Darwin, when he noticed how desperately the toads were hopping grimly toward him, all facing the same way: into virgin territory.
"It was just like an invasion in a science fiction movie," said biologist Richard Shine of the University of Sydney.
Shine is a snake specialist, but when the toads began heading toward his study area, he decided it would be wise to "know thine enemy" before they arrived, he explained.
So for years Shine and his colleagues have been tracking cane toads, and as a matter of course they weigh the toads and measure them. Those records came in handy when they discovered that some cane toads at the invasion front were covering an unprecedented mile-and-a-quarter (two kilometers) each night.
"Sure enough, there was a pattern," said Shine of their astonishing leg-length discovery.
Not only were the legs of pioneer toads significantly longer, but the same athletic build dies out among toads as areas become more settled.
In other words, there appears to be a great advantage to getting the first crack at virgin territory. That boils down to the opportunity to produce more viable tadpoles that grow up to continue the line. For seven decades now that advantage has been awarded to cane toads with the longest legs. That has lead to the steady breeding of longer and longer-legged toads that can keep beating the crowd.
The disheartening result is that the toad invasion rate has increased from seven miles per year in the 1950s to a whopping 30 miles per year today, report Shine and his colleagues in the Feb. 16 edition of Nature.
The silver lining is that the cane toads are showing how quickly some species can adapt to new environments, a challenge now facing innumerable species worldwide as the global climate warms, said ecologist and rapid evolution researcher David Skelly of Yale University.
"We never think of evolutionary changes happening that fast," said Skelly of his fellow ecologists.
That has to change, because the cane toads are just a high profile case of something that is being seen in many organisms all over the planet, he said.
"It doesn't mean that we have no problem (with climate change) or that all species will be viable," said Skelly. But there is evidence that many species might be more able to adapt than previously believed.
Another place where people have to start thinking about rapid evolution is at the federal and state agencies where they evaluate exotic species for release as biological checks on exotic pests, said Skelly.
Right now those agencies don't consider the possibility that a new exotic species will very likely change in its new environment, for better or worse. It's time they started thinking differently, he said.
The fact that their movement has increased, and the fact that physical changes in these frogs can explain that increase in movement makes it far from nonsensical. Geez you are denying even the type of evolution creationists accept.
yes, that's what i've been saying: those so called "scientists" on these threads who think you can't actually be successful in all scientific fields unless you follow Darwin, are "like totally shallow" lol
True, but we can't give up on something simply because 'bad things may corrupt our good things'. CO2 production is not the only way humans can affect an ecology, stripping forests can create deserts, deserts can change airflow and storm paths. Granted the Earth's weather patterns are complex systems thus making it very difficult to predict a specific outcome but we can generalize that certain human activities will cause weather patterns to 'tend' in a specific direction.
The cause of the global change is less important than our reaction to it. If we can affect a change we need to perform cost and risk analyses to determine if our current actions need to be changed.
I just noticed your tagline. Quite stupid.
Sorry, but as you are well aware, the role of sycophant has already been taken.
You just wrote that to taunt me, didn't you? ;op
I actually did think of you when I wrote that! ROFL! But I doubted that you read these Evo threads. I thought, boy, I hope I got that fairy tale right, because Millee reads Snow White so often she would get on my case. LOL!
Does Snow White kiss the frog? Or is that someone else?
LOL! I like that.
Actually you're correct, I do stay away from threads with:
1. Big Words; or
2. Threads that are not juvenile in nature. (I gotta stay with my strengths!)
I found it because I was checking to see if you were on tonight. :oD
LOL! Snow White! I can tell you all about Pinoccio's nose. Xena was on this thread earlier, too, trying to name a rock band, called the Toxic Frogs. You guys should hang out here more often. There are a lot of trolls that are pretty funny.
It's been a slow evening... All the fun threads seem to stop before I get home.
Dash is online too, did you get her ping?
(You are one of the sharpest people I know Millee. Funnier than heck! LOL)
Yeah, I voted. Couldn't think of anything witty to say, except all VP's seem to be buffoons! By definition! They aren't supposed to outshine the Prez. :)
You never did say, was it Snow White who kissed the frog? Who turned into the handsome prince? Where were the 7 dwarfs at this time?
Video Camera?
Video Camera? That went right by me. LOL!
Chapter 794 - After Snow White took a bite from the poisoned apple (this is where I interject about not taking food from strangers) she laid in a glass coffin out in a meadow of flowers.....
Chapter 1,134 - A prince came riding by and was so captivated by her beauty that he kept a constant vigil by her side. (FREAK) The dwarfs, after seeing how much the prince loved her agreed to let the prince take SW (stupid wench) back to his castle (to do what exactly, I don't know. Did I mention FREAK) When the coffin was moved, the poisoned apple dislodged from her throat and she awakened to see the handsome frea prince and they got married and lived happily ever after! (Why do I set my daughter up for such disappointment?)
I don't think Disney has made a story out of the frog yet, but I'm sure when they do I will be well versed in the saga.
You asked:
Where were the 7 dwarfs at this time?
I replied...
They were using the video camera.
Frog moved to France.
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