Cane toads were released in Australia in 1935 to eat the beetles that damage sugar cane crops. Cane toads make a poison in their skin. Northern quolls are small Australian mammals that hunt frogs and toads. Cane toads have now spread across northern Australia. In the areas the cane toads have reached, the number of northern quolls has fallen by more than 90%.
Explain how the arrival of cane toads has caused the number of northern quolls to fall.
In one area, the number of northern quolls kept falling for several years after the cane toads had passed through the area. Suggest an explanation for this.
Scientists are training young quolls not to eat cane toads. Suggest one reason why this may not save the quoll population.
63 exam-style questions on AQA GCSE Biology 7.1 Adaptations, interdependence and competition, covering 7.1.1 Communities, 7.1.2 Abiotic factors, 7.1.3 Biotic factors, and 7.1.4 Adaptations. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.