Lantana Camara Essay

Introduced species have had a drastic effect on Australian agriculture’s production and economy, and continue to pose an ever-growing threat. Invasive plant species are highly adaptable, resistant to control and spread aggressively. Methods of controlling these invasive species can often be expensive, time-consuming and controversial. Introduced plants can have drastic effects on natural ecosystems by smothering native vegetation, degrading creeks and rivers, and spreading diseases. Sometimes introduced vegetation species provide shelter for native animals. Animal agriculture is greatly affected by introduced species through deterioration of fence lines, poisoning livestock and creating impenetrable fortresses of plant matter, often hindering mustering practices. Lantana camara is destructive, toxic and detrimental to the economy of the agricultural industry. Efforts to control this plant have not been successful.

Lantana camara, more commonly referred to as lantana, is an erect shrub native to Central and South American tropical regions. It has small purple-black berries and flowers that range from
Biological control agents must be extensively studied and trialled in quarantine before being released into the environment to ensure that the insect is specie specific to lantana and will not attack native vegetation. Australia failed to follow this protocol in the 1930s, and introduced cane toads (Rhinella marina) to northern Queensland to protect sugar cane from native beetles. Since then, cane toads have had devastating effects on Australian ecosystems by devastating the predator population. They had no impact on the native beetles at all, and their population continues to grow (National Museum of Australia, n.d,