The purpose of this lab is to determine how the introduction of changes into butterfly habitat will affect the distribution traits in a population of butterflies.
Previously you observed the following:
- Dragonflies prey on insects, but they only very rarely eat butterflies.
- Goldfinches eat butterflies in large numbers.
- Hawks prey on a small species of birds that are similar to the birds that eat butterflies.
- The new plant species is similar to the plants that the butterflies eat, but their are no consumers that eat those plants in the meadow.
- This viral strain kills a species of snail that lives in the butterfly habitat and eats the same plants as the butterflies.
Based on your previous observations, formulate a hypothesis on what the impact of one environmental factor would be. Why do you think this hypothesis might be correct? Keep in mind that any hypothesis that is testable is a good hypothesis. Even if your hypothesis is proven wrong, you will know more about butterfly populations than you did before! Write your hypothesis in your lab notes.
Choose another species or the viral strain, and write a second hypothesis about how this new introduction, made independently of the first one, would impact trait frequency.