Drier conditions intensified by ClimateChange might make it harder for prairie birds to communicate.
A bird sings on the prairie and nobody can hear it. Forget whether it makes a sound—biologists want to know why it went unheard. Drier conditions intensified by climate change might be responsible, a new study finds, because birdsong doesn’t travel as far in dry air. That could have harmful consequences for birds trying to defend their territories or find a mate.
As global warming progresses, droughts are predicted to become more frequent and severe in prairies and grasslands across the southwestern United States. A team of researchers at the University of Oklahoma wanted to know how these dry conditions might affect the way birds communicate. In the algorithmic prairie, drought conditions made it harder for birds to communicate with their neighbors, the researchers. In particular, birds with relatively large territories that sing at medium to high mean frequencies—such as the grasshopper sparrow found in North America—were less likely to be heard. The researchers suggest that’s probably because high-frequency sounds cannot easily bend around rocks, houses, and other objects.
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