Question

You are on an expedition in a tropical rainforest. You notice a tall plant with large, long, conical purple flowers that produce nectar. When you ask your guide about the plant, she pulls out a large pink fruit from her bag and explains that it is from the plant with the purple flowers. After tasting the fruit, you decide to bring the plant back home and cultivate it in a greenhouse. You remember seeing a particular butterfly on the purple flowers during your trip to the rainforest. After obtaining a few of these insects, you release them into the greenhouse. A few weeks later, the pink fruit plant is growing! In the process, though, a few butterflies have escaped. Is this an environmentally safe situation?

Answer 1

Answer:

This is NOT an environmentally safe situation

Explanation:

Introduction of non-native species can be dangerous for native species. Different situations could emerge or many of them (for example):

• this butterflies could reproduce quickly or have a good adaptation to the new environment
• this new butterfly could compete with native species for food (among others) causing a decrease in native populations
• equilibrium between native species could be affected