High Impact Practices Student Showcase Spring 2025

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Course Code

ZOO

Course Number

4462

Faculty/Instructor

Dr. Matthew Atkinson

Faculty/Instructor Email

matthew.atkinson@ucf.edu

About the Author

Iso is a senior environmental studies student, while Isabella, Jona, and Genesis are sophomore and junior biology students minoring in environmental sciences.

We'd like to thank our professor and TA's who acted as our editors for this project: Matthew Atkinson, Hannah DeGraw, and Jenna Palmisano.

We'd also like to thank Jesse Yates for the additional data.

Abstract, Summary, or Creative Statement

Human population is increasing and will continue to do so, which means more wild habitat is altered. Even areas that are designated for preservation or conservation may still experience indirect alteration, such as anthropogenic noise and road mortality. Anthropogenic noise, or noise from people, becomes noise pollution when it disrupts an ecosystem’s functioning. The objective of this experiment was to determine the influence of road noise pollution on the abundance of reptiles and amphibians on a UCF campus wetland. Between the months of January and April of 2025, we performed basic trapping and dipnetting as well as walked transects to test decibels at specified points. We found that there was no significant change with the number of species nor individuals depending on the weather, nor with changes in decibel readings. There was no significant variation in noise, but it could be due to a variety of reasons not experimentally tested. The recorded species in the wetland primarily included generalists and invasive species which are able to thrive in a variety of habitats. However, there was still plenty of non-herpetofauna activity in the area, meaning it is still productive. We suggest that this topic be further explored in a more intensive way in the future, either during a season where there would be quiet hours, or in comparison with a remote but ecologically similar site.

Keywords

herpetology; noise pollution; anthropogenic noise; noise; frogs; field research

HISS, RIBBIT, VROOM: An Examination of Herpetofaunal Abundance in an Area Surrounded by Anthropogenic Noise


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