The mimosa tree evolved in East Asia, where the beetle Bruchidius terrenus preys on its seeds. In 1785, mimosa trees were introduced to North America, far from any B. terrenus. But evolutionary links between predators and their prey can persist across centuries and continents. Around 2001, B. terrenus was introduced in southeastern North America near where botanist Shu-Mei Chang and colleagues had been monitoring mimosa trees. Within a year, 93 percent of the trees had been attacked by the beetles.

Which choice best describes the function of the third sentence in the overall structure of the text?