A nonnative species of animal is introduced into a healthy ecosystem. In its new environment, this species has no predators, although it preys on several native animals in the ecosystem. Make a prediction about the biodiversity and health of this ecosystem in the future?
A.Biodiversity and ecosystem health will both increase in the future
B.Biodiversity and ecosystem health will both decrease in the future
C.Biodiversity will decrease and ecosystem health will increase in the future
D.Biodiversity will increase and ecosystem health will decrease in the future
help
it's b
it's a FLY 🦟🦟
or it's a WORM 🐛🐛
and the emoji's are not quite right i had to work with what i had witch was not a lot
To make a prediction about the biodiversity and health of this ecosystem in the future, it's important to consider the impact of introducing a nonnative species without any predators.
When a nonnative species is introduced into a new ecosystem, it can disrupt the natural balance and have negative consequences on biodiversity and ecosystem health.
In this scenario, since the introduced species preys on native animals without facing any predators itself, it is likely to increase in population size. As a result, the native population that it preys upon may decrease, potentially leading to a decrease in biodiversity. This is because a decrease in the number of prey species can lead to a loss of biodiversity within an ecosystem.
Additionally, the introduced species may also compete with native species for resources such as food and habitat, which can further impact biodiversity in the long term.
However, it's important to note that ecosystem health is not solely determined by biodiversity. Ecosystem health includes factors such as resilience, stability, and overall functioning. In this case, the ecosystem may initially appear healthy with the increased population of the introduced species. However, in the long term, the lack of predators for the introduced species may lead to overexploitation of resources, imbalance in the ecosystem, and a decline in ecosystem health.
Based on these considerations, the most likely prediction for the future of this ecosystem would be that biodiversity will decrease (option C) while ecosystem health will decrease as well (not covered in the given options but can be inferred from the explanation).