Jenny Wheeler

Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

Second Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Dancigers, Mark

Keywords

Sonification, Pinus elliottii, Oscar Scherer State Park, Music, Ecology

Area of Concentration

Music

Abstract

Sonification is the compositional strategy through which music is created from a set of data, by assigning certain aspects of data to parameters of sound. This thesis studies the intersection of nature and urban development, both musically and scientifically, by studying and sonifying the edge effect on slash pine trees (Pinus elliottii) in a pine flatwood habitat at a highway edge. The edge effect is the phenomena describing changes that occur near a border between two types of habitat, such as a habitat edge created by urban growth. Slash pines in a pine flatwood habitat near a highway edge at Oscar Scherer State Park in Osprey, Florida were studied with regard to health and growth. Measurements recorded for each individual include CBH (circumference at breast height), height, maximum crown width, and overall crown health. Maximum crown width was found to be negatively correlated with distance from the highway edge, as were several ratios of crown size to overall tree size. A significantly higher number of living trees compared with dead trees were found to exist near the habitat edge. A musical piece was composed which uses the data collected to illustrate this observed edge effect by sonically representing the size and health of the slash pines, painting the picture of the area as a whole. The process of composing this piece, as well as the conclusions regarding the representation of the data in the music, are discussed in this thesis.

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