TPO-15 - Integrated Writing TaskThe cane toad is a large (1.8 kg) amphibian species native to Central and South America. It was deliberately introduced to Australia in 1935 with the expectation that it would protect farmers' crops by eating harmful i

The reading passage presents three proposals to stop the spread of the cane toad in Australia. However, the speaker in the lecture casts doubt on the measures discussed in the article. She mentions that the proposed solutions are likely to be unsuccessful or may cause environmental damage. To start, the author assumes that establishing a national fence could help prevent the toads from colonizing new areas. Nevertheless, the lecturer indicates that young toads and toad eggs mostly move in rivers and streams. As a result, it would be easy to spread from one side to the other. Furthermore, according to the lecture, only few toads or eggs are needed to establish a population. Hence, constructing a barrier would be ineffective. Secondly, the writer contends that a collective volunteer effort organized by the government could be implemented to gather and destroy the toads. In contrast, the professor in the listening brings up the fact that untrained volunteers would not be capable of telling apart the toads from the native frogs, especially when they are young. Thus, this technique could result in loss of native species which are already endangered. Lastly, the excerpt states that a disease-causing virus could come in handy since it would prohibit the young toads from maturing and reproducing. Although some reptiles and amphibians might get infected too, the virus would only harm toads. The lecturer opposes this method saying that the infection could make its way to Central and South America and devastate the native cane toad population there, which is an essential part of the eco-system on the continent. She illustrates that the infected toads could be transported to research centers and pet collectors in the americas.