Answer :
Final answer:
The alteration of the Rocky Mountain locusts' breeding grounds by early settlers, which involved replacing prairie grasses with crops and cattle grazing, led to the extinction of the locusts due to the loss of their natural habitat.
Explanation:
When early settlers moved into regions where Rocky Mountain locusts were present, they drastically altered the breeding grounds of the locusts by removing the natural prairie grasses to plant crops and graze their cattle. This modification of the habitat had significant ecological consequences. As a result of the loss of their natural breeding zones, along with other factors like changes in the environment, the Rocky Mountain locust population faced great challenges that led to their eventual extinction. Altering those zones coupled with other human activities drastically affected the locust populations, and without suitable breeding grounds, they could not sustain their numbers.
Such changes in land use, along with the introduction of new species into habitats and changes in biotic and abiotic factors, can lead to unexpected consequences, such as the extinction of species or the invasive spread of non-native species, which can have far-reaching effects on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
