ArticlePloS one
Constructing an Invasion Machine: The Rapid Evolution of a Dispersal-Enhancing Phenotype During the Cane Toad Invasion of Australia.
Article in PloS one. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Uncovering the role of chemical pollutants in shaping biological invasions.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Rapid wing size evolution in African fig flies (Zaprionus indianus) following temperate colonization.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2025Article
- Rapid geographic divergence in competitive ability of cane toad larvae (Rhinella marina) during a biological invasion.Ecology · 2025Article
- Open border ecosystems: Against globalised laissez-faire conservation.Cambridge prisms. Extinction · 2025Review
- Is developmental plasticity triggered by DNA methylation changes in the invasive cane toad (Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Whole-mitogenome analysis unveils previously undescribed genetic diversity in cane toads across their invasion trajectory.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Traits Underlying Experimentally Evolved Dispersal Behavior inJournal of insect behavior · 2024Article
- Intraspecific interference retards growth and development of cane toad tadpoles, but those effects disappear by the time of metamorphosis.Royal Society open science · 2023Article
- A biological invasion reduces rates of cannibalism by Japanese toad tadpoles.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Captivity induces large and population-dependent brain transcriptomic changes in wild-caught cane toads (Rhinella marina).Molecular ecology · 2022Article
- Island Hopping through Urban Filters: Anthropogenic Habitats and Colonized Landscapes Alter Morphological and Performance Traits of an Invasive Amphibian.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Brain transcriptome analysis reveals gene expression differences associated with dispersal behaviour between range-front and range-core populations of invasive cane toads in Australia.Molecular ecology · 2022Article
- In an arms race between host and parasite, a lungworm's ability to infect a toad is determined by host susceptibility not parasite preference.Biology letters · 2022Article
- Measuring athletic performance in post-metamorphic fire salamanders.BMC research notes · 2021Article
- Variation in size and shape of toxin glands among cane toads from native-range and invasive populations.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Skin resistance to water gain and loss has changed in cane toads (Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
- Evidence of rapid adaptive trait change to local salinity in the sperm of an invasive fish.Evolutionary applications · 2020Article
- Tradeoffs between dispersal and reproduction at an invasion front of cane toads in tropical Australia.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Spinal arthritis in invasive cane toads is linked to rate of dispersal as well as to latitude.Scientific reports · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Biological invasions can induce rapid evolutionary change. As cane toads (Rhinella marina) have spread across tropical Australia over an 80-year period, their rate of invasion has increased from around 15 to 60 km per annum. Toads at the invasion front disperse much faster and further than conspecifics from range-core areas, and their offspring inherit that rapid dispersal rate. We investigated morphological changes that have accompanied this dramatic acceleration, by conducting three-dimensional morphometric analyses of toads from both range-core and invasion-front populations. Morphology of heads, limbs, pectoral girdles and pelvic girdles differed significantly between toads from the two areas, ranging from 0.5% to 16.5% difference in mean bone dimensions between populations, with invasion-front toads exhibiting wider forelimbs, narrower hindlimbs and more compact skulls. Those changes plausibly reflect an increased reliance on bounding (multiple short hops in quick succession) rather than separate large leaps. Within an 80-year period, invasive cane toads have converted the basic anuran body plan - which evolved for occasional large leaps to evade predators - into a morphotype better-suited to sustained long-distance travel.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.