THE EFFECT OF HUMAN INFLUENCE ON NORTH CENTRAL FLORIDA SOUNDSCAPES By JENET M. DOOLEY A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2016 © 2016 Jenet M. Dooley To my parents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without the support of many people. I thank my parents for their unwavering faith in my abilities. I thank David for his encouragement, patience, love, and enthusiasm for statistics. I also thank Erica, Amy, Torren, and Sean for field help, thoughtful advice, and friendship. I thank Bobby for being the best field friend I will ever have; his influence will be felt by many for a long time to come. I would also like to thank Midnight, my oldest and worst friend, for providing comical relief. I thank my advisor, Mark Brown, and the members of my dissertation committee Gary Siebein, Peter Frederick, and Barron Henderson for their thoughtful comments, time, and willingness to participate in a project that did not fall into a single traditional discipline. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 8 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ 11 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... 12 LIST OF ACRONYMS ................................................................................................... 15 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND ...................................................................................................... 18 Research Motivation ............................................................................................... 18 Research Objectives ............................................................................................... 20 Organization ........................................................................................................... 20 Plan of Study .......................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 2 .......................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 3 .......................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 4 .......................................................................................................... 22 2 NOISE AND LANDSCAPE DEVELOPMENT INTENSITY ...................................... 24 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 24 Soundscape Areal Dimensions ........................................................................ 25 Anthrophony vs. Biophony ................................................................................ 25 Landscape Development Intensity ................................................................... 26 Problem Statement and Plan of Study ............................................................. 26 Methods .................................................................................................................. 27 Description of Study Sites ................................................................................ 27 Data Collection ................................................................................................. 27 Acoustic Analysis ............................................................................................. 28 Acoustic metrics ......................................................................................... 28 Analysis of total frequency spectrum ......................................................... 28 Analysis of 1 kHz frequency bands ............................................................ 29 Analysis of anthrophony vs. biophony ........................................................ 29 Landscape Measures ....................................................................................... 30 Landscape development intensity (LDI) ..................................................... 30 Wetland indicator and road proximity ......................................................... 31 Physical and Temporal Measures .................................................................... 32 Statistical Analysis ............................................................................................ 32 5 Results .................................................................................................................... 34 Variable Selection ............................................................................................ 34 LDI index scale .......................................................................................... 34 Physical and temporal control variables ..................................................... 34 Wetland indicator and road proximity ......................................................... 34 Models .............................................................................................................. 35 1000 Hertz Frequency Bands ........................................................................... 36 Anthrophony and Biophony .............................................................................. 37 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 38 3 LAND USE SOUNDSCAPE CHARACTERISTICS ................................................. 52 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 52 Habitat Specific Soundscapes .......................................................................... 52 Temporal Variation in Soundscapes ................................................................. 53 Noise Thresholds ............................................................................................. 53 Problem Statement ........................................................................................... 54 Plan of Study .................................................................................................... 54 Methods .................................................................................................................. 55 Site Descriptions .............................................................................................. 55 30-minute sites ........................................................................................... 55 48-hour sites .............................................................................................. 56 Acoustic Sampling ............................................................................................ 56 30-minute site data .................................................................................... 56 48-hour site data ........................................................................................ 57 Data Analysis ................................................................................................... 57 30-minute sites ........................................................................................... 57 48-hour sites .............................................................................................. 58 Results and Discussion........................................................................................... 59 30-minute sites ................................................................................................. 59 48-Hour Sites ................................................................................................... 63 Comparison of 30-Minute and 48-Hour Sampling Timeframes ......................... 65 Conclusions ............................................................................................................ 65 4 DETERMINING ZONES OF ACOUSTIC DISTURBANCE ADJACENT TO ROADWAYS ........................................................................................................... 77 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 77 Road Noise Response Thresholds ................................................................... 78 Problem Statement and Plan of Study ............................................................. 79 Methods .................................................................................................................. 80 Road Traffic Volumes ....................................................................................... 80 Road Noise Sound Levels ................................................................................ 80 Theoretical roadways ................................................................................. 80 Case study ................................................................................................. 81 Road Noise Dissipation .................................................................................... 81 Theoretical roadways ................................................................................