Urban acoustic ecology is an emerging field focused on furthering our understanding of how the sounds within urban development impact the surrounding soundscape and biodiversity. Human noise, otherwise known as anthrophonies, are known to negatively impact wildlife by impeding communication and lowering species richness. With urban population expected to grow profoundly within the next 30 years, it is critical to explore the acoustical relationship between the environment and wildlife for future management and urban development planning. I investigated how the physical landscape impacts the urban/peri-urban soundscape through acoustic indices within the greenspaces of Denton, Texas. Specifically, I found that the percentage of impervious surfaces have a significant negative impact on the coefficient of variation of the acoustic index ADI (Acoustic Diversity Index). ADI is used to calculate the occupancy of sounds within a frequency wave. Further, I investigated how the combination of landscape characteristics and acoustic indices predict avian species richness and rarity. My results show that richness and rarity was positively related to ADI; on the other hand, a soundscape with higher ADI (CV) scores, meaning consistent anthrophonies such as distance vehicle traffic, was related to higher richness and rarity. My research indicates that there is a relationship between the physical environment, ADI, and avian richness and rarity which showcases how acoustic monitoring can be a valuable tool for management and development protocols.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc2356235 |
| Date | 07 1900 |
| Creators | Fields, Miranda Catherine |
| Contributors | Gregory, Andrew, Bednarz, Jim, Carruthers-Jones, Johnathan, Compson, Zacchaeus |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | Text |
| Rights | Public, Fields, Miranda Catherine, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved. |
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