We counted our roadkill in our towns. The higher the number of roadkill indicates the larger the population. We will investigate what factors and changes impact the numbers. Project information is located at http://roadkill.wikispaces.com.
Article posted June 9, 2010 at 02:42 PM GMT •
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I did a project on the difference between roadkill on sunny days and rainy days. There was a total of 10 rainy day and 53 sunny days, for the weeks we have been keeping track of the roadkill. 5 roadkill's were on rainy days and 27 were on sunny days. 27/53 were sunny days and 5/10 were on rainy days, so if you found a common denominator then the fractions of the kills would be 270/530 for sunny days and 265/530 for rainy days. So that means that there is more roadkill during sunny days then on rainy days.
Article posted June 9, 2010 at 02:42 PM GMT •
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Article posted June 8, 2010 at 01:51 PM GMT •
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In my 7th grade science class we have been studying the roadkill in Rye and New Castle. We have looked at roadkill and choose something that might have effected the roadkill amounts. I choose to study the temperature each day and record weather the warm days had more or less roadkill than cold days. I set the temperature I would consider cold 59°F and under. Then my teacher printed me a sheet showing the temperature for all of the days we studied roadkill. I then created a table and a graph.
I took the warm days with roadkill and divided it by the total number of warm days. Then I did the same with cold days. I found that 42% of the cold days had roadkill and 48% of the warm days had roadkill. This proves that there is more roadkill on warm days than on cold days. I think this happened because as it got warmer mating season started. During mating season there is a lot more roadkill than in the winter. So as the weather got better animals began to come out of hibernation. This was probably the biggest factor weather played in the roadkill.
This happens because people are used to driving without any animals around in the winter but then the animals come out of hibernation and they are all over the place. So drivers are not prepared for the sudden abundance of animals. Also with mating season in full swing the animals may be running across the road to for another animal.
Another variable that may have effected our roadkill amount this year, is precipitation. If it was raining hard, it may make it harder to see on the road. So drivers may not see little animals on the road. Also if it is snowing the roads are slippery, so if it starts to snow unexpectedly animals may still be out and about. In this case you most likely will not see the animals and it would not be as easy to slam on your brakes with out skidding.
In addition to looking at the temperature I would think it is a good idea to look at the precipitation. Then you may also want to see when the animal died instead of when it is seen it. It is important to have accurate information. There is misinformation when you don't know when the animal actually was killed. I think that that would be one of the most important variables to add to my project. This roadkill project was really fun and I hope that the information I found will help you in learning more bout roadkill.
Article posted June 8, 2010 at 01:51 PM GMT •
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Article posted June 11, 2010 at 02:17 PM GMT •
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The text on the side and bottom of my graph are a bit blurry... I'll write here what they read if you can't make them out correctly.
On the right of the graph are the years. The green represents 2007, the yellow represents 2008, red represents 2009, and blue represents 2010.
On the bottom of the graph are the Moon Phases. The first column is the New Moon, second column is the First Quarter, third Column would be a Full Moon, and the last column is the Last Quarter. Hope that clears things up!
this is a graph about roadkill that we have been recording.
