Find an introduced species (plant/animal) to Australia that has caused a...

[Eyes Wide Shut]

...problem to problem the environment? please help!!!

 

[John]

the plant below is very colourful when in bloom but it is a pest that needs to be erradicated.
Ruby Dock

Acetosa vesicaria
This fleshy-leafed annual have fruit with 3 wings. Often seen after good winter rain, the plant is not a native of Australia, having been introduced with the introduction of camels into Australia, either deliberately for feed or accidentally in the stuffing of camel saddles.


Alternative Name(s): Rumex vesicarius, Rosy Dock, Bladder Dock, Wild Hops.

Family: Polygonaceae.

Form: Herb

Origin: Native of northern Africa and east to India (Punjab).

Flowers/Seedhead: In terminal panicles. Flowers autumn to early summer.

Description: Erect succulent annual herb to 1 m high. Stems hollow and vertically ridged. Leaves alternate, 5–11 cm long, on a stalk often longer than the leaf blade. Capsule wings often tinged bright pink to purple, showy.

Distinguishing features: Distinguished by fibrous roots; succulent ovate to triangular leaves; winged fruits with valves 12–23 mm long, about 15 mm wide.

Dispersal: Spread by seed in fruit that are wind- and water-dispersed.




Notes: Drought resistant plant distributed through the interior of Australia. Fruits showy. It generally invades disturbed land and is common along watercourses. In arid areas it can provide some grazing for stock but contains oxalates and nitrates which may cause poisoning.
Does it matter whether a plant is a newcomer to Australia, or has been evolving here in isolation for the last 50 million years? Yes, it does! It matters because these new plants are radically changing the Australian environment, for ever. They are displacing native species, altering not only the diversity and interactions of the flora, but also its value for fauna.

The most obvious change in bushland is when a diverse flowering understorey is replaced by a sward of grasses. Many of our most colourful and interesting animals, including jewel beetles, honeyeaters and the tiny marsupial honey possum, depend on nectar to survive. Grasses are wind pollinated, they produce no nectar. The shrubs that the grasses replaced also had widely differing flowering seasons, so that there was always something in bloom, even in autumn. When grass replaces the shrubs, fewer nectar eaters can survive.

 

[candy4panda]

Rabbits and cane toads.

 

[Atheris ceratophora]

Well I was beaten to the punch, but yes Rabbits and cane toads are a huge problem. Nothing is fast enough to catch the rabbits so there population exploded. The Cane toads can be caught but they secrete a poison from glands on there body so when ingested the poison will kill the predator. They are reducing the populations of many snakes and lizards in Australia. Those some animals have learned to prey on them, by either being immune to the poison or avoiding the poisonous parts. The University of Queensland is working on reversing the sex of females thus making an entire population of males and wiping out the species.

 

[WITchY]

there are these animals
Cane toad
Red fox
Feral goat
Feral cat
European rabbit
Brumby i love them. i hate people who shoot them there are other ways
and even camels but i dont know what harm they cause
rock pidgeon
Mynah a type of bird