The Case Studies

As you can see, there is a large number of threatening diseases, plants and animals that could be studied in this unit! However we will now focus on three examples in detail.

  • Black sigatoka, a disease of bananas caused by fungus (Mycosphaerella fijiensis) that has caused outbreaks in northern Queensland.
  • The Cane toad (Bufo marinus) was introduced into Australia in the early 1800s, and spread rapidly across tropical Australia, eventually causing damage to wetlands in areas such as the World Heritage area Kakadu National Park.
  • Gamba Grass (Andropogon gayanus) an introduced grass which has spread across northern Australia causing ecosystem degredation, habitat loss and species decline.

We would like you to determine the origin(s) of the species, how they came to be in Australia and the environmental, economic and social impacts that these species have had. In the Topics to follow you will examine other aspects of the management and research responses to the problems caused by these species. Now start work on Assessment item 1.


Assignment 1: The History and Impact of Invaders

This is your first assessment item. You are required to prepare a presentation.

Task: Choose one tropical invasive species in Australia that interests you. Prepare a talk describing the history and impacts of this invasive species in Australia & a short summary abstract to accompany your talk. Your powerpoint presentation will be delivered to the class either in the tutorial session (internal students) or via the Collaborate online class (external students). Two minutes will be allocated for question time at the end of each presentation. Please bring your presentation to the tutorial on a USB drive or e-mail your presentation to your lecturer well before the class.

Please see your Unit Information Guide for more information.

Hints- Some of the questions to consider while preparing your talk include:

  • What is the history behind the introduction of the species into Australia? Was it introduced intentionally or accidently? Was there an underlying philosophy at the time (e.g acclimatisation, agricultural development?).
  • What are the impacts of this species? Does the species have environmental, economic or social impacts?
  • What is the current management response to this invader (i.e is it being managed? How the impacts of this species may have influenced the way that it has been managed? Consider the goal of the management program for the species (e.g eradication, containment, or control) and why the species in being controlled.

Students will be assessed on both the preparation/planning of their talk, their seminar content and presentation quality, as well as question time.