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When birds sing outside your window at dawn, they’re responding to internal clocks set to daily and annual rhythms.

But what happens when climate change interferes with these clocks, putting the survival of species, potentially even humans, at risk?

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“Biological clocks — daily and annual timing — is found in every organism, from gut bacteria to worms, algae, plants, and all of the animals,” Vincent Cassone, a professor and chair of the department of biology at the University of Kentucky, said.

All have an “internal biological timing system” that is approximately timed to 24-hour and 365-day cycles, he said. These rhythms are synchronized largely with the daily rise and fall of the sun, with light and temperature influencing changes throughout the year.

Birds are the clearest manifestations of these changes, he said.

“We know that the time of morning is punctuated by the singing of birds,” he said. “We talk about the first robin of spring. We know it’s fall because the Canada geese are starting to migrate. The annual clock of birds is a bellwether for the timing systems of all organisms.”