Organisms can have positive or negative impacts on the ecosystem they live in. The cane toad, or Rhinella marina, was introduced
to the Hawaiian Islands in 1932 by sugar cane farmers. Farmers released the toads in their crops to help control pests that were damaging the sugar cane. The cane toad has few natural predators, as it secretes a poisonous toxin from its skin that deters larger organisms from eating it. As a result, the cane toad population thrived and grew to number hundreds of thousands by 1935. Photo by Patrick Gijsbers
Which role does the cane toad play in the Hawaiian Islands?
native species
invasive species
uncontrolled species
endangered species
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When an exotic species proliferates wildly and becomes a potential threat to other species and the ecosystem, we call these species invasive. An example of this is cane toad that has proliferated uncontrollably as it has almost no predators.
An invasive species is characterized by reproducing rapidly, having good dispersibility and being resistant to environmental changes, coping well in a diversity of environment and with environmental stress. We may have invasive species that are natural in the country, but from a different biome than the one they are invading.
Remember please that these are likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health or non-native (or alien) to the ecosystem. Hope this helps
