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The cane toad.
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When the Balance Tips, Humans Become Vulnerable
Whenever biodiversity is reduced, a first and fundamental line of defense against infectious agents is weakened. Pathogenic microbes act just like any other opportunistic species--introduced species such as the kudzu plant choking the American south and the cane toad chomping its way across Australia, or native fungi in Brazil devastating cacao plantations--in taking advantage of changing environmental conditions and adapting to new ecological niches created by human disturbance. Anne Platt McGinn of the Worldwatch Institute, a global environmental research group, notes that “the more disruption there is in the human habitat, the bigger the biological risks are for people.”
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