Metal Abundances and Star-Formation Rates of Emission-Line Galaxies in
  and around the Bootes Void
  We explore the possible dependencies of galaxy metal abundance and
star-formation rate (SFR) on local environment, focusing on the volume of space
in and around the Bootes Void. Our sample of star-forming galaxies comes from
the second catalog of the H-alpha-selected KPNO International Spectroscopic
Survey (KISS) which overlaps the void. This sample represents a statistically
complete, line-flux-limited ensemble of 820 star-forming galaxies, all of which
possess metallicity and SFR estimates. We carry out two distinct analyses of
the KISS galaxies: one which probes the properties of the entire sample as a
function of local density, and a second which details the properties of 33 KISS
star-forming galaxies located within the Bootes Void. In both cases we find no
evidence that either the metallicity of the KISS galaxies or their SFRs depend
on the environments within which the galaxies are located. Our global analysis
does show weak trends for decreasing stellar mass, decreasing metallicity, and
decreasing SFRs with decreasing local densities. However, we argue that the
metallicity and SFR trends are artifacts of the stellar mass - local density
trend. In particular, the change in metallicity with density is precisely what
one would predict from the mass-metallicity relation given the observed drop in
stellar mass with decreasing metallicity. Likewise, the SFR trend with density
disappears when one instead considers the mass-normalized specific SFR. The
KISS galaxies dwelling in the Bootes Void are found to have nearly identical
metallicity and SFR properties to a matched comparison sample, despite the fact
that the former are located in density environments that are, on average, more
than 16 times lower.
