in not more than 100 words rain affect on animals and birds
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Imagine a tropical forest and you might conjure up tall trees hung with vines, brightly colored birds, howling monkeys, and ... rain. Indeed, precipitation patterns, along with temperature, dictate where tropical forests are distributed around the world, but surprisingly, scientists know very little about the direct effects of rainfall on animals.
A new conceptual framework, developed by University of Illinois and Kansas State University researchers, calls for the scientific community to formally consider the role of precipitation in an organism's ecological niche - the set of biological and environmental factors that optimize life for a given critter.
"We understand exactly how most animals respond to temperature, but the same is not true for rain," says Alice Boyle, associate professor in the Division of Biology at Kansas State and lead author on the Trends in Ecology & Evolution article. "When animal biologists see rainfall effects in their studies, they assume it must be about how plants are responding to rainfall and how that affects the food supply for the organisms they're studying. But there can be direct physiological consequences of rain related to feeding behavior, predation, pathogens, and more. There's a lot more going on than food supply."
In the article, Boyle and co-authors
The effects of rainfall on wildlife are numerous. Migrating shorebirds and wading birds use the newly flooded habitats to feed on aquatic species they can find there. Additionally, many fish spawn as rivers and water temperatures rise in the spring.Outside of the breeding season, increased precipitation (in the form of snowfall) during winter could reduce food resources for birds overwintering in northern latitudes. ... Rainfall-induced changes in seasonal bird behavior can also negatively impact species populations, especially those that are migratoryBut it's dense air that gives birds the aerodynamic lift they need to take wing. Falling rain and high humidity also add lots of water molecules to the air. That water takes up space in the air, making it even less dense. So rather than fly, many birds perch and conserve energy during a storm