Sessional Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development Written Submissions Received Volume 2 Issues associated with the progressive entry into the Northern Territory of Cane Toads October 2003
Tabled Paper 1123
Tabled Papers for 9th Assembly 2001 - 2005; Tabled Papers; ParliamentNT
2003-10-16
Tabled by Delia Lawrie
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https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/307061
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/346011
Written Submissions Dr Freeland Volume 2 Cane Toad Inquiry Report 167 ATTACHMENT 4 Freeland, W. J. 1993. Parasites, pathogens and the impact of introduced organisms on the balance of nature in Australia. Pages 171-80 in CONSERVATION BIOLOGY IN AUSTRALIA AND OCEANA, ed by C. Moritz and J. Kikkawa. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping North EXTRACT ONLY Parasites, pathogens and the impacts of introduced organisms on the balance of nature in Australia W J FREELAND ABSTRACT Since colonisation by Europeans, Australia has experienced the highest rate of extinction of mammals of any biogeographic region in the world. The proposition is put that the majority of these extinctions reflect the instability of ecosystems that have a paucity of co-evolved host-parasites relationships. Food web analysis has shown that parasites are potentially the greatest source of stability in natural communities. Extinction of complex life cycle parasites during the Pleistocene and Holocene, man's subsequent addition of parasites lacking co-evolved relationships with Australian host species, deletion of parasites and introduction of animals without their predators and the majority of their parasites may have destabilised Australian ecosystems, making extinctions inevitable. Those holding responsibility for the management of the fauna and its continuing extinctions cannot afford the luxury of simply establishing reserves containing habitat appropriate to particular species. If the Australian fauna is to be preserved for posterity, it is essential that managers become involved in the deliberate restructuring of parasitic communities. Key words: parasite, community stability, introduced organisms, extinction. ATTACHMENT 5 Goannas were located and captured with the assistance of Annie Isaacs (an elderly Traditional Owner for the study areas) and her trained goanna dogs. Time to location of a goanna is used to indicate the abundance of goannas with data presented as mean and their 95% confidence intervals (short periods to location indicate a higher abundance of goannas than do longer time periods). Control areas (adjacent areas free from cane toads) remained constant through the period and are reported as a single mean. Year Cane Toads Mean (minutes to location) 95% confidence interval 1989 Absent 32 27 1990 Present 103 73 1991 Present 56 36 1992 Present 38 26 Control Absent 35 44 ATTACHMENT 6 Species of snake (Boidae, Coiubridae, Elapidae) known from 7 islands off Queensland's eastern coast that have no cane toads and 11 islands that have cane toads. Data are