Photoperiodism, the functional or behavioral response of an organism to changes of duration in daily, seasonal, or yearly cycles of light and darkness. Photoperiodic reactions can be reasonably predicted, but temperature, nutrition, and other environmental factors also modify an organism’s response. In animals, the regular activities of migration, reproduction, and the changing of coats or plumage can be induced out of season by artificially altering daylight. Birds, for example, have migrated north in the winter after having been exposed to reversed seasonal lighting in laboratories.