Consider this scenario: the tropical island of hawaii is virtually snake-free. smugglers, seeking to make money, brought several crates of snakes to the island. unfortunately, while traveling across the island, the truck carrying the snakes was in an accident. the crates were thrown from the truck and broke apart. most of the snakes were never recovered. would this have any effect on the ecosystem here?

Yes! The snakes will eat some of the basic small animals, decreasing the population. This causes the bigger animals to maybe go exxtinct, or break another part of the ecosystem to survive.

Having a non-native species released into the wild risks the chance of it becoming invasive and possibly harming the population of other native prey species. It could also release parasites or illnesses it brought with it from its native land, which could infect the native species who have no way for their bodies to fight it/aren't immune to it.