The Effect Of Temperature Change on Eastern Coast Red Tailed Hawk Populations
Since the early 1990s, the annual average temperature in the United States has increased by 1.8℉ (0.7℃) with the Eastern coast of the United States recording record high temperatures that are predicted to increase by another 2.5℉ (1.4℃) by the year 2050. This has resulted in population fluctuations of native species, such as the Red tailed Hawk. These hawks tend to thrive in colder areas. The steady increase in the East Coast temperature may threaten their population, as these hawks tend to thrive in colder temperatures. The primary objective of this study was to determine whether or not there was a statistically significant difference in the Red tailed Hawk population in the Eastern United States over the last 29 years as it relates to temperature. Data was obtained from the Christmas Bird Count and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). An ANOVA test was used to compare the observed number of Red tailed hawk differences obtained along the Eastern coast of the United States. A Tukey HSD test then showed that there was a statistically significant difference between each state’s temperature in relation to the Red tailed Hawk population between the years 1990-2019. Though the adverse effects of rising temperatures in the United States were noted in this study, it is difficult to discern what exactly had the strongest role in the population fluctuations of Red tailed Hawks due to this only being a correlation study. In large, comparative studies are necessary to determine whether or not the results of this experiment are conclusive.
