Modelling the effect of weather parameters on bird migration patterns

Abstract

History views birds as mere messengers, but they are a critical part of our ecosystem. However, study shows that bird species are undergoing extinction over hundreds times faster than we thought. Bird conservation addresses the dual threats of climate change and habitat loss on bird migration. The effect of climatic changes has a direct or indirect effect on bird migrations and it is a natural process. However, human-induced global warming has accelerated climatic fluctuations leading to abrupt changes in bird migration and also their extinction. India suffers significant climate variations because of its geographic location, which has a significant impact on bird migration. This study is aimed on establishing the association between climate change and bird migration in India based on the research that has been done till now. We will have a better understanding of how climate conditions impact bird migration patterns in Kerala as a result of the study. And in order to do that, it seeks to analyse the relationship of the arrival and departure dates with the climate parameters such as temperature, wind speed, and precipitation. The study also intends to show which bird species behave similarly depending on the given climate factor of the region. To conduct the described study I examined the relationship between bird migration factors, such as arrival and departure dates, and climatic parameters, such as temperature, wind speed, and precipitation for the each regions of Kerala state which are divided based on their similarity to the climate. It is done to prevent inaccuracies caused by the high variance in Kerala State�s climate parameters. For this study Linear Regression is used for the citizen-science website eBird data and NASA POWER�s climate data from 2011 to 2019. Other than this I also analysed which bird species are showing similar migration behaviour with change in given