This activity has been adapted specifically for Texas. The original activity is from the Project WILD activity guide and has been used here with permission from the Western Regional Environmental Education Council copyright 1992. Many natural systems affect wildlife survival and population fluctuations.
Rainfall is just one form of precipitation.
The types and distributions of annual precipitation can influence which plants will survive in an area. Many plants would benefit more from a series of small rain showers than from a single thunder shower that drops five inches of rain in less than an hour. Although precipitation has significant impact on an area's vegetative composition, other factors also influence what grows where. Those factors include elevation, latitude, soil condition and type and the average number of frost-free days. Among other influences, plants are the product of rainfall amounts and temperatures.