The world's most popular type of banana is facing a major health crisis. According to a new study, a disease caused by a powerful fungus is killing the Cavendish banana, which accounts for 99% of the banana market around the globe. The disease, called tropical race 4 (TR4), has affected banana crops in southeast Asia for decades. In recent years, it has spread to the Middle East and the African nation of Mozambique. Now experts fear that disease will show up in Latin America, where the majority of the world's bananas are grown. Once a banana plant is infected with TR4 it cannot get nourishment from water and nutrients, and is basically dies of thirst. TR4 lives in soil, and can easily end upon a person's boots. If the contaminated boots are then worn on a field where Cavendish bananas are grown, the disease could be transferred. " Once a field has been contaminated with the disease, you can't grow Cavendish bananas there anymore, " Randy Ploetz(scientist) says. "The disease lasts a long time in the soil." But the Cavendish banana is also particularly vulnerable to TR4. The banana is grown in what is called monoculture. "you see a big field of bananas and each one is genetically identical to its neighbor" Ploetz says. "And they are all uniformly susceptible to this disease. So one one plant gets infected, it just runs like wildfire throughout that entire plantation.

Question

How would TR4 threaten homeostasis within a banana plant?

(1 point)
Responses

The TR4 fungus prevents the banana plants from being able to regulate the proper amount of water needed.
The TR4 fungus prevents the banana plants from being able to regulate the proper amount of water needed.

The TR4 fungus causes the plants to not regulate carbon dioxide intake for photosynthesis
The TR4 fungus causes the plants to not regulate carbon dioxide intake for photosynthesis

The TR4 fungus causes the Banana plants to retain too much water
The TR4 fungus causes the Banana plants to retain too much water

The TR4 fungus does not affect the homeostasis of the banana plant.

Answer 1

The correct response is:

The TR4 fungus prevents the banana plants from being able to regulate the proper amount of water needed.

This is because the TR4 disease affects the plant's ability to absorb water and nutrients from the soil, leading to dehydration and ultimately causing the plant to die. This disruption in the regulation of water intake directly threatens the plant's homeostasis.