Since the industrial revolution in the 19th century, humans have released a steadily increasing amount of greenhouse gases. This increase was accelerated due to the development of the petrochemical industry in World War 2. Greenhouse gases trap heat within the atmosphere, causing an overall warming of the planet. According to the Australian Department of the Environment and Energy, changes such as an increase in global air and ocean temperature have been observed. Due to the changing climate, many animals have had to adapt by altering their life cycles or confining their habitats, this is known as habitat fragmentation. When these species become confined to smaller areas within their previous ranges, it results in reduced genetic variability. By studying a location’s change in temperature and its biodiversity over the past decade, the direct correlation between temperature and biodiversity can be determined. Using multiple locations in California, we gathered a list of birds in urban regions over a 20 year time period in 5 year increments, and calculated the Shannon’s Index to determine the biodiversity. Then, we studied each region’s temperature to find any temperature changes. We predict that if a location has a significant increase in temperature, the diversity of birds found in that region will decrease.
