According to LSU scientists, the deeper parts of Amazon rainforest is free from human contact but is affected by human-induced climate change. Researchers have observed that the number of sensitive resident birds in the Amazon rainforest have declined. The body shape and the wing length of the bird has also changed due to increasing hot and dry conditions in the dry season.
Birds in the rainforest have become smaller and their wings have become bigger because of the shift in environmental conditions which has led to physiological or nutritional challenges for birds.
Researchers have found these changes in non-migratory birds which has eliminated any other reason for these changes. Researchers have captured 15,000 birds and measured their body and then release them with a band in their leg. The researchers have observed the birds for over 40 years and recorded that almost all the birds have reduced in size and become lighter.
In the year of 1980, the average weight of the birds were 30 grams which now has become 27.6 grams and researchers think this is significant.
The scientists have covered a larger area of the rainforest to ensure that the changes in the birds’ bodies are not tied to a particular place.
The researchers have investigated 77 species of birds that live from the cool, dark forest to the warmer, sunlit places. They have found out that the birds live in warmer places are exposed to heat and have gone through dramatic changes in their body weight and wings size.
The scientists have got the idea that these birds tired to adapt a hotter climate by reducing their body size and increasing its wing size, so, it takes them less energy while flying.
But the scientists could not give any specific answer about the future of these birds as the rainforest is getting hotter and drier.
