Which risk increases when contour feathers lose their barbules and hooklets in avian flight?

💡 Explanation

When barbules and hooklets detach in contour feathers, the feather's structure degrades because interlocking is lost weakening the vane profile essential for aerodynamic control. Therefore impaired flight authority results, rather than BMR increase, mechanical shearing or predation vulnerability which reflect unrelated physiological or ecological phenomena.

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