Human thermal climates of Australia

Apart from early studies by Griffith Taylor, very little work has been carried out to describe the variety of thermal environments experienced by man in Australia. Previous studies are reviewed and new models are developed to quantify energy exchanges at specific times of the year within a continuum of possible responses to maintain homeothermy. Maps are presented of cold and heat stress to naked man, of work rates to achieve neutrality, and of clothing insulation requirements. Estimates are also made of primary energy inputs necessary to reach comfortable indoor temperatures by space heating and cooling within standard housing. It is further suggested that the success of settlement is associated with the relevance of human responses to the thermal environment.     

Sapwood estimates in the interpretation of tree-ring dates

Many timber finds lack some or all of the outer, sapwood rings formed in the years just before felling. In order to estimate felling date once the outermost remaining ring has been dated, it is necessary to estimate the number of sapwood rings originally present. Methods doing this for oak are reviewed in the light of an intensive study of living trees at one site and an extensive study of 175 samples from living trees in North Wales and northwest England. Some methods reported in the literature are found to be invalid. A method reported by Hollstein (1965) is most reliable, with modifications for known variations in sapwood number with position in the tree. At present the best available estimate is that a value of 30 sapwood rings be used (95% confidence limits: 19–50).     

THE DECLINE OF CALIFORNIA'S NORTH COAST REDWOOD REGION

The Redwood Timber Region of Northern California has experienced a gradual decline in its natural resource base combined with intensified struggles over preservation and conservation. This region is used as a case study for examining the historic pattern of resource decline, the ambiguous roles of environmentalist pressure, the failure of public regulation, and a range of regional responses to economic decline. In this case, more intense forest management techniques (herbicides, fertilizer, thinning), more public investment in timber regeneration programs, and the emergence of an underground economy in marijuana growing are core elements of the response to resource decline. Theoretical, political, and environmental problems with these approaches are examined.