Impending Disappointment...

Nature definitely isn't mankind's best friend.  The environment itself can be very hostile to human life.  Storms on the surface of LV-223 and LV-426 are another example of how deadly nature can be.  The company might start doing weird things like hybridizing animals with plants to try to keep insects from eating their crops.  The problem is that if you use some type of nerve agent, it kills the bees that move between ecosystems and the whole biosphere dies.  The company learns you've gotta engineer your own hybrid plants and crossbreed them.  

The potato famine in Ireland was caused by a type of mold that managed to spread through all the potatoes.  The same type of potatoes had been replanted over and over again, and they formed a monoculture.  None of the potatoes were from a different strain or a different branch of their evolutionary line, so they all had the same weakness to the disease.  If some of the "plants" don't crossbreed, they won't survive.   

Daniels would be well aware of dangerous plants and insects that can exist in tropical and subtropical regions.  There are theories about exoplanets and convergent evolution, so the company doesn't think there's anything too deadly out there. Daniels is the one who argues we don't know what's out there.

Natural disasters and famines account for the collapse of many ancient cultures. This reality has a chance at avoiding a global famine or a flood caused by the melting of the ice caps. There's nothing we can do about A.I. stealing our positions in the hierarchy once a quantum computer is complete; however, a Hell on Earth type scenario remains avoidable if space is colonized and/or air processors start being built.  The fact that there's no animal life in the area is very troubling to Daniels...  

If some of the company's beliefs about convergent evolution are in fact correct, then the bioregion should be literally full of alien birds tweeting at each other, making plenty of noises. Birds are very social creatures, and they should be chirping as soon as the newcomers arrive.  The absence of birds is what bothers Daniels most.  Well, besides Branson's death and Weyland-Yutani being so sure it's okay to not wear helmets.

NYCRO - What a very compelling topic! I have actually reviewed a pair of papers discussing the possibilities of extraterrestrial life in the recent past. According to many whom make a living contemplating this notion, any aliens of sentient mind and high technological sophistication will likely be, unfortunately, predatory in nature. The most advanced life-forms in Earth's biosphere are predators - like humans. Such organisms develop to become the dominant life-forms as a result of having to out-think prey and learn how to adapt to changin conditions. The harsh truth of life is that it must, in one way, shape or form, eat other life to continue. Treks through space - across the vistas of time - would require not only great technology, but a willingness to undertake whatever actions are necessary to survive. Such actions would undoubtedly include fighting and killing for resources. It is not pretty. It is not congruent with our desires of civility. It is simply the way of Mother Nature - and she typically favors the strong and opportunistic over the weak and timid.

@Utah_CUtiger

The whole Dinosaur Debate is a interesting one, but hey if we are going by Biblical Connections then they never existed lol

But yeah i dont think the Franchise is going to discount that, the thing that gets people confused with Prometheus indeed is the whole Sacrificial Scene, in Spaights draft it showed this Process is what lead to a Hybrid of Engineer DNA and Primate and that resulting in Humans... so the Sacrificial Scene had been done after the Dinosaurs etc.

Prometheus however is hinting that the Sacrificial Scene was the Start of Life, which would then raise the question why does all life not look like Engineers apart from Humans and what is the off Chance that Seeding Engineer DNA Millions and Millions or over a Billion years ago.. all off a sudden by Evolution lead to Humans, who just happen to be close to the Engineer who Sacrificed himself.

This is where Ridleys comments and Lindeloffs are needed, as they then clearly tell us the Engineers came back over and over Evolving Life until we get to Humans.  They simply tinker with all sorts of Life, and so its likely they chose species and experiments on them on LV-223 then planted the preferred results back on Earth... and the same thing likely happened over and over to create Primates and then further Evolve them.

If i was to Nit-pick further then indeed the world the Sacrificial Engineer performed  his Sacrifice on was not Baron at all, it had signs of Plant Life and Algae etc and so the Engineers Sacrifice was likely the Catalyst that allowed basic Life to Evolve to Complex rather than being the start of Life in general.

The other thing this allows us to now ponder, is that indeed the Sacrificial Scene could have happened on a Already thriving World but in a more secluded area, where only a more Local Ecological System at that Waterfall was altered that leads to Mankind down the line. And so Dinosaurs etc could have existed in other parts of the World away from the Sacrifice and are thus not effected by its results.

"If the bees go extinct, then we're all dead."

This is a common theory that does not quite work out as True, not all Plants rely on Bees, but if we throw in Birds too, then indeed it makes things hard as Seeds are Spread by many Plant Life/Fruit etc by Birds and other Wildlife, but then also other Insects pollinate Plants too.

So no Bees and No Birds does not mean no Plants/Harvest or Fruit but it surely would have a massive impact on these things, not so much to the Modern World, as we understand these things and can find ways to Populate Plants/Harvest and Fruit without the use of animals and insects.

Which your comment about "The company learns you've gotta engineer your own hybrid plants and crossbreed them"

Is very good and indeed plausible if not for certain and the Weyland Viral Site supported this.

But if we went back to say Ancient Times, thousand or thousands of years ago, and all the Bees died off, the effect would be drastic and would certainly have a massive impact, more so if we saw at that time all Birds and all Insects die.  It would have a massive impact on Food Sources, and would mean that Fish/Seafood would have to become the Main Meat/Protein most people would have to rely on.

I will CarynDelacroix add to the Hammerpede and Deacon debate by saying how can we involve these to make something like the Xenomorph, well as far as Procreation.

I think we can assume if Weyland-Yutani or David for that matter, had the Sacrificial Goo and you either gave this/infected  a Hammerpede and then broken down Hammerpede DNA Infects a Deacon... or Vice Versa where Deacon broken down DNA infects a Hammerpede.

I am sure a Hammerpede/Deacon Hybrid would certainly add a Egg Laying Organism that is close to the Deacon for sure.

WHOAH MAN.   CHILL OUT          Their are number of infinite possibilities and high probabilities.    I think that you are just saddened because you wont be alive long enough for true space travel exploration and uncover the numerous number of life forms that can be discovered.   

This is all hypothetical, we don't know for sure that our energy requirements will one day exceed our capability to sustain ourselves and cause our species to go extinct.  We don't know exactly what killed all the early hominid lines, or the dinosaurs, but there's evidence that we ate some of the Neanderthals (and now we eat chicken, which is evolved from dinosaur).  

The wars over natural resources are part of what keeps the whole machine going since there are limited resources already.  An advanced civilization capable of galactic travel will require an incredible amount of resources for expansion...

To BigDave's points, I'm focusing so much on "the birds and the bees" as I feel it's a good conceptual metaphor that can sum up the other related ideas, such as the possible need for intercourse as part of the ALIEN life cycle.  So I'm sort of being dramatic and using bees as a symbol for other things as well. It's important not to take anything too literally :)

We would probably find ways to survive without the bees, since they aren't the ultimate producer of the energy at the top of the energy system.  The nearby sun is producing the energy that the plants (also producers of energy) absorb.  Many of the plants would be okay without the birds and bees.  Wild wheat is able to be spread via other means - if the husks are brittle.

The wheat seeds have been planted by gardeners who have been working with the crop for thousands of years (if we compare it to wheat grown on Earth).  Daniels likes gardening and all that stuff, so she would think about all these ideas if she's considering how the bioweapon might have the ability to wipe out entire biospheres.  Complex forms of life require a lot of energy to keep going...  In the end of the 2Oth century and early 21st century, many farmers started being forced to buy their seeds from large agribusinesses instead of local sources.

The large corporations have already begun taking control of the farming industry in our real world.  That's why Weyland-Yutani is heavily invested in gardening and appointed Daniels to her position.  Her nature-based perspective would allow her to hypothesize that the ALIEN species evolved naturally long ago, and the Engineers picked it up somewhere and began genetically modifying it.  I think the film will give us clues that one faction of Engineers stole the ALIEN from the other faction.  Other than that, I think much of it will be left open to interpretation, and we'll have even more questions to discuss.

If Daniels survives, then W-Y private security officers might need to consult with her in the prequel/sequel books.  They'd wanna get Daniels' opinion on the ALIEN.  If Daniels proves herself to be a survivor. then she's valuable to them.  It's still too early in the timeline for the company to really know what they're dealing with. They might have vague ideas about the smaller ones and headburster types; although, this is the first time W-Y has even seen an adult Xenomorph.  

@CarynDelacroix

Indeed Wheat is very important and i think this is why we see it in Alien Covenant, and so indeed maybe important they find this prior to when Daniels asks why there are no Birds or Animals.. Nothing... Wheat is something that can be Harvested on its own and re-produce with Nothing.

Back to the Real World... and Indeed our Population is growing at a Alarming Rate, that unless we can completely change how we Pollute the World with the Bi-products of our Energy uses and acquirement and find construction materials as far as for everyday use in all industries that is Bio-degradable.  With Population Boom, we can only expect a Grave Future for Earth within 150 years.

At the Rate Modern Mankind from the last 200 years has been going it paints a horrid picture for what this Generation of our kind will do as far as Damage to Mother Earth that really cant be sustained much longer than another 200 years without irreversible effects.

where as other Ancient Generations be it the Dark Ages (Middle Ages) or even Roman Times, or even earlier than that.  The way Mankind lived and our impact on the Earth from 500 to 3500 years ago.. these Generations as far as Technology goes could live on Earth for many more thousands of years with out putting the Earth at risk, as far as environment and its effects on Life.

As far as Daniels goes... it depends where they are going with the next movie, or indeed the one after that.

I dont think Alien Covenant is the last we will see of Daniels, they surely have to follow what and where does she go next, and i cant see this leading her off Happily into the Sunset as there Original Destination would have ended up, if only THEY HAD NOT gone to where they received that Signal from David/Shaw.

they would be single celled if we are able to perceive them at all