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Articles by Rick Shine
The pet and skin trades pose little threat to reptile species: new research Original
Reptiles are captivating creatures – so captivating that people keep them as pets, or wear clothes and carry handbags fashioned from their patterned skins. At first glance, these practices may appear to be a major threat to reptile conservation. Every lizard, snake, turtle or crocodile taken for the pet or skin trade means one less reptile in the wild, right? Actually, that’s far from the full story.
The pet and skin trades pose little threat to reptile species: new research
Dominic Jeanmaire/Getty Reptiles are captivating creatures – so captivating that people keep them as pets, or wear clothes and carry handbags fashioned from their patterned skins. At first glance, these practices may appear to be a major threat to reptile conservation. Every lizard, snake, turtle or crocodile taken for the pet or skin trade means one less reptile in the wild, right?
Larval Adaptation to Salinity Shock in Cane Toads (Rhinella marina) From Coastal French Guiana
1 Introduction Local adaptation can play an important role in allowing populations of a species to persist across a diversity of habitat types. Although many biotic and abiotic factors can drive local adaptation, aquatic organisms may be especially sensitive to the osmotic challenges imposed by variation in salinity (Gunter 1956; Whitehead et al. 2011) and salinity may therefore drive adaptation (Gomez-Mestre and Tejedo 2004; Rogell et al. 2009; DeFaveri and Merilä 2014; Albecker and McCoy 2017).
Teaching toads: how we can save native species from cane toads
The toads were imported from Hawaii and released in Queensland, purportedly to manage pest beetles in sugar cane crops. The toads failed to control the pests and instead spread westwards at an ever-increasing pace. They are expected to reach Broome on Western Australia’s coast within a few years. Along the way, cane toads have created havoc. Any predator that tries to eat an adult cane toad is likely to die a quick and painful death.
We can't eradicate deadly cane toads-but there's a way to stop them killing wildlife
Australia can claim more than its fair share of environmental blunders, but the introduction of cane toads in 1935 surely ranks as one of the worst. The toads were imported from Hawaii and released in Queensland, purportedly to manage pest beetles in sugar cane crops. The toads failed to control the pests and instead spread westwards at an ever-increasing pace. They are expected to reach Broome on Western Australia's coast within a few years. Along the way, cane toads have created havoc.
We can’t eradicate deadly cane toads - but there’s a way to stop them killing wildlife
Australia can claim more than its fair share of environmental blunders, but the introduction of cane toads in 1935 surely ranks as one of the worst. The toads were imported from Hawaii and released in Queensland, purportedly to manage pest beetles in sugar cane crops. The toads failed to control the pests and instead spread westwards at an ever-increasing pace. They are expected to reach Broome on Western Australia’s coast within a few years. Along the way, cane toads have created havoc.
Whole‐mitogenome analysis unveils previously undescribed genetic diversity in cane toads across their invasion trajectory
1 INTRODUCTION Invasive species are a substantial global concern, particularly due to likely future range expansions under climate change (Bonebrake et al., 2018; Seebens et al., 2017), an increasing rate of anthropogenic introductions (Lowe et al., 2000), and their negative impacts on native biodiversity and the economy (Bradshaw et al., 2016; Mainka & Howard, 2010).
A secret war between cane toads and parasitic lungworms is raging across Australia
When the first cane toads were brought from South America to Queensland in 1935, many of the parasites that troubled them were left behind. But deep inside the lungs of at least one of those pioneer toads lurked small nematode lungworms. Almost a century later, the toads are evolving and spreading across the Australian continent.
A secret war between cane toads and parasitic lungworms is raging across Australia
When the first cane toads were brought from South America to Queensland in 1935, many of the parasites that troubled them were left behind. But deep inside the lungs of at least one of those pioneer toads lurked small nematode lungworms. Almost a century later, the toads are evolving and spreading across the Australian continent.
Stop killing brown snakes-they could be a farmer's best friend say researchers
Many Australians who work outdoors—especially farmers and graziers—attempt to kill every snake they encounter, especially those thought to be venomous. In fact, research in one part of rural Australia found 38% of respondents tried to kill snakes wherever possible. This attitude is misguided and dangerous. Despite their fearsome reputation, venomous Australian snakes pose little risk to human health. And snakes are hugely beneficial on farms by consuming pests such as rodents.
Stop killing brown snakes - they could be a farmer’s best friend
Many Australians who work outdoors – especially farmers and graziers – attempt to kill every snake they encounter, especially those thought to be venomous. In fact, research in one part of rural Australia found 38% of respondents tried to kill snakes wherever possible. This attitude is misguided and dangerous. Despite their fearsome reputation, venomous Australian snakes pose little risk to human health. And snakes are hugely beneficial on farms by consuming pests such as rodents.
Stop killing brown snakes - they could be a farmer’s best friend
Many Australians who work outdoors – especially farmers and graziers – attempt to kill every snake they encounter, especially those thought to be venomous. In fact, research[1] in one part of rural Australia found 38% of respondents tried to kill snakes wherever possible. This attitude is misguided and dangerous. Despite their fearsome reputation, venomous Australian snakes pose little risk to human health. And snakes are hugely beneficial on farms by consuming pests such as rodents.
Stop killing brown snakes - they could be a farmer’s best friend
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In the evolutionary arms race between cane toads and lungworms, skin secretions play a surprising role
Unlike many other species of amphibians, the cane toad is thriving. It was introduced to Australia (and other places, such as Hawaii) to get rid of pest insects in sugar cane plantations. It had no effect on the pest insects, but soon after its introduction in 1935 it began to spread over large parts of the country. And it didn’t come alone. Cane toads brought with them a parasite from their native range in South America, the lungworm nematode Rhabdias pseudosphaerocephala.
Why the trade of exotic leather products is more sustainable than you may think
The fashion industry tries to do the right thing when it comes to sustainability – after all, its profits increasingly depend on it. But it needs help. This is where science comes in. It is the job of scientists to generate hard evidence to help come up with solutions that work for people, businesses and the planet. Yet even issues that attract strong scientific consensus can sometimes arouse deep scepticism.
Exotic leathers: why fashion products are more sustainable than some research suggests
The fashion industry tries to do the right thing when it comes to sustainability – after all, its profits increasingly depend on it. But it needs help. This is where science comes in. It is the job of scientists to generate hard evidence to help come up with solutions that work for people, businesses and the planet. Yet even issues that attract strong scientific consensus can sometimes arouse deep scepticism. So, we have a choice.
Exotic leathers: why fashion products are more sustainable than some research suggests
The fashion industry tries to do the right thing when it comes to sustainability – after all, its profits increasingly depend on it. But it needs help, and this is where science comes in. Yet even issues that attract strong scientific consensus can sometimes arouse deep scepticism. In the fashion industry, nowhere is that conflict more apparent than in the use of animal products versus synthetic alternatives.
Toad vs toad: outwitting the cane toad with ingenious biology
Rick Shine was studying herpetology when the cane toad invasion advanced through Northern Australia. Quickly understanding the futility of trying to eradicate the cane toad, Rick devised a radical solution. His idea, met with huge scepticism, was to influence biology by training native animals to prefer a smaller, less-toxic toad. Rick’s had a lifelong fascination for reptiles, stemming from a boyhood love of snakes.
How indigenous expertise improves science: the curious case of shy lizards and deadly cane toads
It’s a common refrain – western ecologists should work closely with indigenous peoples, who have a unique knowledge of the ecosystems in their traditional lands. But the rhetoric is strong on passion and weak on evidence. Now, a project in the remote Kimberley area of northwestern Australia provides hard evidence that collaborating with Indigenous rangers can change the outcome of science from failure to success.
Banning exotic leather in fashion hurts snakes and crocodiles in the long run
We are all familiar with the concept of “fake news”: stories that are factually incorrect, but succeed because their message fits well with the recipient’s prior beliefs. We and our colleagues in conservation science warn that a form of this misinformation – so-called “feelgood conservation” – is threatening approaches for wild animal management that have been developed by decades of research.
Libby Robin reviews 'Cane Toad Wars' by Rick Shine
Cane Toads are peculiarly Australian. They don’t belong, yet they thrive here. They breed unnaturally fast – even faster than rabbits. They are ugly, ecosystem-changing, and despised. Introduced in 1935 to eat the pests of sugar cane in Queensland, their numbers have exploded right across Australia’s tropical north. They are famously ‘unnatural’, since Mark Lewis’s popular 1988 film Cane toads: An Unnatural History.
We've cracked the cane toad genome, and that could help put the brakes on its invasion
We and our international colleagues have deciphered the genetic code of the cane toad. The complete sequence, published today in the journal GigaScience, will help us understand how the toad can quickly evolve to adapt to new environments, how its infamous toxin works, and hopefully give us new options for halting this invader’s march across Australia.
Rick Shine: Current Biology
Rick Shine is a Professor of Biology at the University of Sydney, and a Laureate Fellow of the Australian Research Council. He has conducted field-based ecological research on reptiles — mostly snakes — in many parts of the world. When invasive cane toads arrived at his main study site in tropical Australia in 2005, he took on the challenge of studying these ecologically devastating amphibians.
Yes, you heard right: more cane toads really can help us fight cane toads
Eighty years ago, an agricultural scientist named Reginald Mungomery brought cane toads to Australia, bred them, and released their offspring in sugar cane plantations near Cairns. Little did he know that he was setting in train one of the greatest ecological disasters to befall Australian wildlife. His decision has been universally condemned since. But now, almost a century later, I am proposing that we can fix Mungomery’s historic blunder by doing almost exactly what he did.
UN raps leaders who stir fear following Orlando shooting
A United Nations official says he is appalled by the efforts of some political and religious leaders to use the attack at an Orlando, Florida nightclub to fuel intolerance, fear and hatred.
Yes, you heard right: more cane toads really can help us fight cane toads
By Rick Shine, Professor in Evolutionary Biology, University of Sydney Eighty years ago, an agricultural scientist named Reginald Mungomery brought cane toads to Australia, bred them, and released their offspring in sugar cane plantations near Cairns. Little did he know that he was setting in train one of the greatest ecological disasters to befall Australian wildlife. His decision has been universally condemned since.
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