Performing Department
Chemistry
Non Technical Summary
In conducting a study where the location being studied is incredibly important, it is imperativeto have preliminary data on a variety of locations in order to select the most appropriate final location/s to study. Therefore, I proposed a small study to get preliminary air quality and noise level data at 6 different locations around Syracuse - 3 locations will be in forested environments and 3 locations will be in urban environments; having background data on this locations will ultimately allow me to select 2 final locations (1 forested and 1 urban) to study the health benefits of visiting a forested environment when compared to an urban environment. Several health studies looking at the calming effects of being in a forest, compared to an urban environment, have been conducted. However, there are many factors such as differences in air quality and noise levels that are also drastically different between the two locations and can also contribute to differences in stress in people that are usually not measured in those works. In addition, there are a lot of air quality parameters that can be measured. For this grant, I am proposing using a new instrument that measures the amount of small air particles in the air that has been previously tied to negative health effects. This instrument, along with several others, will be deployed to this different locations and assist me in selecting the most ideal locations to study for a larger-scale McIntire Stennis grant proposal. This instrument has also not been used in previous studies assessing the health benefits of being in a forest. Once I obtain this data, I am looking for one urban and one forest location with comparable air pollution and noise levels for my study sites.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
20%
Developmental
60%
Goals / Objectives
I will do a thorough exposure assessment of noise and air quality of three forested locations (i.e. Heiberg Forest, Rand Tract, Baltimore Woods) and three urban locations (i.e. Marshall Street, Downtown Syracuse - Clinton Square, steps of the MOST). The two locations with similar noise and air quality measurements will be selected for further investigation in a future proposal assessing the health benefits of visiting forested environments.
Project Methods
To accomplish this, I will sit at each location (3 forested and 3 urban) for 30 minutes, up to 5 different times this summer but keep the exposure window the same (9am - 9:30am); there is temporal variability in air quality and noise measurements with the morning rush hour. I will note in detail the number of people I see, the number of passing cars, and other factors (i.e. construction, black flies, running creeks, chirping birds, weather). I will take detailed photographs of the locations each time I visit and what the participants could be viewing. I also will measure air particle concentration (PM2.5, particles with a diameter less than 2.5 µm) and ambient noise levels. In addition, I will measure the concentration of ultrafine particles (UFP, also called nanoparticles, particles with a diameter less than 0.1 µm). Descriptive statistics will be calculated at each location, and for each locale (i.e. forest, urban). Differences in location and locale will be determined using ANOVA with post-tests for multiple comparisons.