Graduate education and research in forestry

FRANK H. KAUFERT

Effect of new scientific developments

THE WORLDWIDE rapid development of science and technology has brought about major changes and advances in practically every area of human endeavor. These changes end developments are generally recognized as being largely the result of some type of research or investigative effort.

Graduate education in turn is the foundation for research, whether basic or fundamental, applied or development research is under consideration. Thus in a real sense it is a matter dealing with a cause-and-effect relationship when new scientific developments affecting graduate education and research in forestry are considered. This close relationship between graduate education, research and scientific development requires little re-emphasis. Scientific development by and large is the result of research. Research competence and productivity are to a major extent the products of graduate education.

It became apparent to the writer early in the preparation of this paper that a thorough and definitive treatment of this subject would provide a challenge for a group of the world's most outstanding and leading authorities in each of the forestry fields. Language and literature-acquaintanceship barriers pose a special handicap. Relatively little has been written on this or related subjects and summaries of existing situations and developments are quite limited even for those countries where graduate education and research in forestry are substantial efforts. Auger (2), Shirley (10) and Speer (11) have discussed research developments as they affect forestry throughout the world, but their treatments of this subject have of necessity been limited.

As a consequence of the existing situation this presentation is based to a major extent on situations, experiences and examples of scientific developments affecting graduate education and research in forestry as they appear in the United States of America. It is recognized that many European and Asiatic countries have had a far longer experience with research and graduate education in forestry and have viewed the close relationship between scientific development and these efforts for a far longer period. However, it must remain for FAO or the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO) to promote or undertake the type of worldwide study and summarization of this subject which is so urgently needed.

FRANK U. KAUFERT is director of the School of Forestry, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A. This paper was presented to the Second Session of the FAO Advisory Committee on Forestry Education.

Some basic considerations

Before entering into a discussion of some of the general and specific scientific developments affecting graduate education and research in forestry it is well to review briefly some of the background and basis for the inclusion of this subject in the present program and why it deserves far more thorough treatment than can be provided by one individual in a paper of this type.

TYPES OF RESEARCH

In all research several types of effort are recognized: development or applied and basic or fundamental. There is no clear-cut distinction or boundary between them. They are not mutually exclusive. Both are essential in overall research development. Basic research is commonly designated as that which provides research capital or the foundation for development or immediate problem-solving research. However, much that is immediately applicable can and has resulted from basic research activity. A similar situation exists with respect to applied, development or problem-solving research. Such research can and has developed basic principles, although this is infrequently the immediate objective.

Generally, basic research evolves from applied or development research. Immediate problem solving is normally given first priority in developing countries and when new problems are met. However, as developments occur, it soon becomes apparent that basic or fundamental research must be undertaken to provide the necessary background information for further advances. For this reason, the separation of basic or fundamental from applied or development research is difficult, and they are treated in this discussion without distinguishing between them.

TYPES OF GRADUATE EDUCATION

There is increasing evidence that graduate education in forestry as in all other fields evolves in a similar manner to research. At the beginning, the aim or objective is to educate for problem solving. Such solving of the myriad and complex problems that impede progress on all fronts is critical and important in every country, including those with the most advanced technologies and best developed resources. However, problem-solving oriented graduate education is most important today, and probably will continue to be for some time, in the developing nations of the world. The resources of developing nations available for graduate education can most profitably be invested where the immediate need is greatest. Fortunately, with relatively few exceptions, this is the approach of most developing countries financing graduate education for their representatives in forestry and other natural resource areas.

The level of graduate education that parallels or may be considered equivalent to basic or fundamental research can exist in the same institution, and occasionally in the same individual, concerned with applied research. It involves a greater depth of knowledge and education in basic disciplines - mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, etc. It involves too the ability to apply the advanced findings of other fields to forestry. Those possessing the degree of scholarship and interest necessary and desirable for graduate education leading to basic or fundamental research will no doubt seek and receive a large proportion of their graduate education in the basic disciplines and less from the applied - agriculture, engineering and forestry.

In the same manner that applied and basic research are not and should not be considered as mutually exclusive, neither should graduate education aimed at problem-solving or applied research on the one hand and that aimed at the forwarding of basic or fundamental research be so considered. Those educating for applied research or problem solving should know the tools and techniques available to them and how they are most profitably utilized. It is less important for them to understand the development of these tools and techniques, but they should know how and when to apply them to advantage. They may well receive the majority of their education from the faculties of agriculture, engineering and forestry.

EXTENT OF THE FORESTRY RESEARCH EFFORT

Relatively little quantitative information is available on the total forestry and related research effort throughout the world. In the United States, periodic summaries have been prepared on the expenditures for or investments in forestry and related research activities (7, 9, 13). This information, together with the writer's estimate of expenditures or investments made in 1965, are summarized in Table 1.

It is evident from this summary that the forestry research effort of the United States has experienced considerable growth in the past decade. However, when compared to research in such fields as agriculture, chemistry, metallurgy and electronics, the forestry research investments are extremely small.

TABLE 1. APPROXIMATE INVESTMENTS IN FORESTRY AND RELATED RESEARCH IN THE UNITED STATES

	Investments
	1963	1960	1962	1965
	Thousands U.S. $
Forest products industries	28 100	62 026	68 000	76 000
Federal¹	9 700	17 247	23 400	35 000
Colleges and universities	4 400	6 521	8 000	12 000
Other	3 200	2 105	2 300	3 000
	45 400	87 899	101 700	123 000

¹ Mainly United States Forest Service (USFS).

Research investments in the United States are usually expressed in terms of product values. In 1965, the gross value of forest products approached U.S. $30,000 million, thus making the forestry research investment about 0.4 of 1.0 percent of such value.

In the same year, the total United States research investment in all research by all agencies was about $20,000 million or approximately 3.0 percent of the gross national product of $670,000 million. Space research, defense-oriented research, and industrial research of all types account for the majority of these investments, with certain industries, such as chemicals and metals, investing 3 to 5 percent of product value in research and development.

The forestry research investment becomes even less significant when all of the immeasurable but very important benefits derived from forest lands (water, wildlife, recreation and erosion control) are considered in addition to timber products.

The United States investments in forestry and related research, as shown in Table 1, also do not loom large when considered in connection with the vast range and abundance of research projects under investigation. W.H. Cummings of the Co-operative State Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, has recently summarized in very interesting and useful fashion the forestry and related research projects being studied in 1964 by public agency personnel, particularly by personnel of the United States Forest Service, forestry schools and state agricultural experiment stations. This summary is given in Table 2.

The research projects listed in Table 2 are being financed with the research investments for public agencies shown in Table 1. It is quite evident from this that little of the research is being financed to the extent considered desirable and necessary today in most research fields.

TABLE 2. - SUMMARY OF NUMBER OF PROJECTS ON FORESTRY RESEARCH REPORTED TO THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, BY PROGRAM

	McIntire-Stennis¹	Hatch¹	Non-federation¹	Agricultural Research Servide²	Forest Service²	P.L. 480³
FOREST BIOLOGY
Soil, fertilizer	11	10	19	-	3	4
Physiology	17	13	16	-	3	24
Ecology, meteorology	7	6	11	-	1	3
FOREST GENETICS
Selection, variation	11	21	11	-	-	2
Breeding, heritability	6	8	10	-	7	6
SILVICULTURE
Practice by type, regeneration	3	20	33	-	51	1
Timber stand improvement, thinning	1	10	25	2	1	-
Specialty	4	11	7	15	1	2
Dendrology, special planting -	4	7	14	3	3	6
FOREST PROTECTION
Fire	-	-	1	-	27	1
Pathology	12	23	31	4	30	13
Entomology	12	24	24	3	32	17
FOREST MANAGEMENT
Timber growing	3	14	17	-	1	-
Mensuration	9	7	9	-	9	-
Site	5	10	4	-	-	-
Survey, aerial	3	1	4	1	11	2
Recreation	12	3	3	-	11	-
Wildlife	6	8	18	-	10	-
Range	5	1	4	4	17	-
Watershed	5	4	4	1	36	-
Multiple-use	7	2	9	5	8	-
FOREST UTILIZATION
Logging, engineering, grading	1	1	1	-	10	-
Wood, properties	24	2	13	1	17	1
Manufacture, design, uses	7	12	5	3	22	1
Preservation, seasoning	2	8	15	-	6	3
Pulp, composite products	4	2	3	1	6	1
FOREST ECONOMICS
Policy	9	-	12	4	13	1
Marketing forest products	5	34	4	-	11	-
Total	195	262	327	47	347	88

1 Research by forest schools and agricultural experiment stations. - ² Research by the Agricultural Research and Forest Services of the United States Department of Agriculture. - ³ Research conducted by forest scientists of many countries with P.L. 480 funds.

The number and variety of research projects being investigated by the forest products industries, under the close to two thirds of the total research funds invested in this area (Table 1), cannot be approximated with the information available. While the research investment figures may indicate a more significant expenditure per project, it is questioned whether the comparison with similar developmental research in other fields would be much more favorable than in the public agency sector.

It is fully appreciated that included in such research project summaries are research efforts of all sizes and quality, from activity by single individuals as part-time efforts to team research of major proportions. However, these data do provide some measure of the research being undertaken and the financing involved.

Extent of the graduate education effort

Some information on graduate education in forestry, in terms of availability in different countries and institutions, is contained in the World directory of forestry schools, published in 1960 by the Society of American Foresters in collaboration with FAO. However, summaries of the number of graduate students studying or being educated in the forestry schools of the world at present appear to be as unavailable as similar data on research. In providing the information in Table 3 on the extent and growth of graduate education in forestry in the United States, it is recognized that this is but one segment of the total world situation In European countries and in Japan graduate education for research in forestry has had a far longer history, and, if summarized in similar fashion, could well dwarf the United States effort.

It is evident from Table 3 that there has been a sizable increase in graduate education in forestry in the United States, both in number of students and degrees granted. However, there is growing indication that increases of the type we have witnessed in the past 12 years will not suffice. The United States Forest Service, in connection with its rapidly expanding research effort, has estimated that if the goals of the 10-year National Forestry Research Program are to be successfully met, then it will require a large number of added research workers, almost double the number employed in 1964. The Forest Service has made a general breakdown of the number of forestry research scientists needed if the expansion contemplated is to be staffed with competent research personnel (Table 4).

TABLE 3. - EXTENT AND GROWTH OF GRADUATE EDUCATION IN FORESTRY IN THE UNITED STATES

	Students enrolled			Degrees awarded
	1952	1958	1964	1052	1058	1964
Master's degree.	281	537	988	226	224	347
Ph. D. or doctorate	130	207	443	25	42	86

SOURCE Gordon D. Marckworth. Statistics from Schools of Forestry for 1964. Journal of Forestry 63 (3): 189-195, 1965.

To this total must be added a considerable number of forest scientists needed by educational institutions, by the forest products industries, and those lost to the profession because of opportunities in other disciplines. Although one may question some of the assumptions and bases for such estimates, time could prove them conservative. It is estimated that the present rate or level at which research scientists are being trained (Table 3) must be at least tripled to meet the anticipated need.

TABLE 4. - NUMBER OF ADDED FORESTRY RESEARCH SCIENTISTS REQUIRED BY 1972

	Number of scientists
Forest products and utilization	239
Extramural research	157
Economics	68
Fire	66
Diseases	62
Insect	58
Forest engineering	57
Wildlife	55
Watershed	55
Recreation	51
Range	39
Genetics	32
Silviculture	20
Timber-related crops	19
Forest products marketing	14
Mensuration	9
Total increase	1 001
Less Forest survey	8
Net increase needed	993

Similar or even more critical situations probably exist in most economically developed countries. In the developing countries, the needs may be even greater proportionally if not in terms of total numbers.

New scientific developments

Forestry cannot claim the type of scientific developments that have occurred in physics and chemistry. The tremendous research investments in such fields as physics, chemistry, electronics, space, etc., have resulted in a veritable flood of scientific developments. These developments have affected graduate education in these far more than they have in forestry.

The speed with which new scientific developments are occurring in many fields and the effects of such developments on research personnel and graduate education are rather pertinently and pungently stated by Aldrich (1):

"To use the appropriate term of this nuclear age, it is being estimated that the 'half-life' of a new technology is now down to five years. Five years after the application of basic information in the field, it is well on its way to obsolescence. The implications of this shortened half-life of scientific information are obvious to people in education and research. They are in a race to discover new information, and to retrieve what is pertinent to them from a worldwide flood of research findings. They are in a race against the possibility of teaching obsolete information or building a research program on a crumbling, outmoded base."

The new scientific developments that have resulted or are resulting from forestry and related research are significant even though the outpouring is not in the proportion encountered in other fields. Some are the results of applying or adapting developments from other disciplines to forestry; some are new developments resulting specifically from forestry research. Some of these scientific developments are of such a nature that they apply broadly and affect all aspects of graduate education and research in forestry. Some are specific for certain fields.

As indicated earlier, it is an obvious impossibility for one individual to attempt to identify and describe in a discussion of this length all of the new scientific developments in the forestry and related research areas which as previously indicated affect graduate education and research in forestry in one manner or another. What is presented is a selection of what are considered important new scientific developments. Also, credit for these developments is infrequently given to authors or countries. The designation of credit for important scientific developments is a matter that only subject-matter specialists can undertake. This must be left to the more detailed and definitive summarization proposed for some internationally constituted committee or agency undertaking.

DEVELOPMENTS AFFECTING ALL AREAS

The majority of these new scientific developments have been the result of the large and intensive research efforts in other fields. Some have been adapted or are being adapted for application in forestry and related areas.

Information retrieval systems

Basic to the development of graduate education and research in forestry is better information retrieval. The forestry literature is not yet as voluminous as in other scientific fields. However, as forestry research is developed to a level of greater intensity, and the developing countries make their contributions, better information retrieval systems will be needed. Hopefully, the systems developed will apply on a worldwide basis and no nation will be excluded from its benefit.

Fortunately, fields such as medicine, chemistry, and others, where the research efforts and research publication are many times those of forestry, are making progress on the development of information retrieval systems. An example was recently described by Dr. Arnold Lazarow, Head of the University of Minnesota Department of Anatomy and an authority on the disease diabetes:

"One of the biggest headaches in research is locating the articles and picking out the pertinent data from them. This can take months or years under present conditions. Using the information retrieval system, it would probably take a few hours to locate the articles, and the work would be done primarily by the computer, not the researcher. The information retrieval system as envisioned for the disease diabetes would work at three levels of complexity. The first-level, which is in operation now, involves a general classification of all articles pertinent to specialty groups. The second-level retrieval system adds to the first an element of critical analysis. An analysis of the subject content of each article is prepared, including such detail as the type of data, which helps the researcher determine the significance of the article. The third-level retrieval system is designed for the specific needs of the individual research investigator or for a small research team. This level adds even more detail than the second. The entire text of the article is fed into the computer. This would allow a researcher to retrieve articles that relate to a specific item. This is the level so essential but only now being developed."

One might add that in today's "one scientific world," where the results and benefits of research should flow to all nations, information retrieval must consider language barriers and provide means of making available research results and development to scientists of all lands. Developments to this end still are in their infancy but there is considerable activity in many of the leading forestry libraries. This is without question an area of forestry development where international forestry groups could lend strong support and in which accomplishments would have a very stimulating effect on the worldwide strengthening and advancement of graduate education and research in forestry.

Systems analysis

A whole family of systems sciences has developed. The general systems theory attempts to provide an overall view but there are many problems involved and the field is in a definite condition of flux. The principal branches of this field are: cybernetics, or the science of control and communication on organized systems; information theory, the theory of information as a measurable quantity; operations research; linear and dynamic programming; decision theory; theory of games and others. Of particular interest and significance has been the recent application by Galoux (5) of cybernetics to obtain a better understanding of forest ecosystems.

It can be said that, while statistics deals with unorganized complexity, systems analysis deals with organized complexity. Many different branches of mathematics are involved and there is a move toward the development of types of mathematics to fit situations, such as the development of a biological calculus. A wide variety of computer techniques have been applied and adapted in the systems analysis area. Probably the most rapid development in application of systems analysis has been in the forest management and forest economics areas, with background materials largely borrowed from general economics and management. While systems analysis development has not progressed as far in forestry as in other fields, it has real potential for the future.

Model construction and use

Model construction has become a most valuable research tool. Rosenblueth and Wiener (8) indicate the importance of models to science as follows:

"No substantial part of the universe can be grasped without abstraction. Abstraction consists of replacing the part of the universe under consideration by a model of similar but simpler structure."

Bakuzis and Brown (3) describe the importance and place of models in forestry research as follows:

"Models are part of the symbolic language of science and are designed to handle relationships based on specific rules of transformation. The standards for comparing the efficiency of models are applicability, successful prediction, and simplicity. When predictions cannot be verified, the model is changed. Foresters have developed a number of important models, such as those for the normal forest, yield tables, silvicultural management systems, stem analysis and many others. They have also borrowed many models from other branches of science."

One of the most effective uses of the model system, to explain and present complex relationships, has been in forest ecology. Ecosystem models based on triangular co-ordinates have been rather extensively developed by leading forest ecologists of several countries.

Model construction and use will no doubt become an increasingly significant part of forestry research as more complex problems are dealt with and attempts are made to assess the effects of multiple variables. Such use and adaptation in forestry research will require added emphasis on this tool in graduate education.

Data processing

All areas of science and education have felt the impact of developments in data processing and analysis. The availability of larger, faster and more complex electronic computers has provided a means of vastly reducing much of the computational and data-summarization drudgery. Electronic computers have made it possible to study far more complex problems, including a wide variety of variables, without becoming overwhelmed with data.

The availability of electronic computers has also injected into research and training for research an increased emphasis on careful preparation of plans for data gathering and analysis. These electronic tools are only as effective in accomplishing their task as the researcher makes them.

With the development of electronic data processing (EDP) has come an increased use in forestry of the simulation techniques used earlier in business. Simulation techniques are being used to study the merits of various sampling units and management practices.

Jeffers (6) has pointed out the importance of electronic digital computers in the field of forestry. He has also indicated that the understanding and use of such computers and other forms of data processing are as critical, if not more critical and important, in developing countries as in those with well-developed economies. Jeffers also points out the desirability of developing and maintaining an international library of forestry programs with a common language code for different machines. He indicates that, while Fortran is an attempt and approach to this in the United States, and Algol a similar attempt in Europe, neither system at its present stage of development provides the necessary answer for the world's developing countries.

Instrumentation

The tremendous advances that have been made in instrumentation for the measurement or recording of research data in all fields, particularly in forest biology and wood science, have taken some of the detail and routine out of data gathering. In some respects, the development of instrumentation has accomplished for data gathering what computers have accomplished for data processing and summarization. Although most of these developments have had their roots in other fields, their application has been a considerable accomplishment and advance.

Graduate education must recognize the advances that have been made in instrumentation of the data-gathering process and acquaint students with these advances. Foresters and wood scientists will no doubt be largely followers and adapters, because of the tremendous research concentrations on this subject and contributions being made by physicists, chemists, space scientists, etc. However, such adaptation accomplishments can be as significant to research and graduate education in forestry as other forms of research.

Sampling

Although foresters have been among the leaders in the development of sampling systems and procedures in the gathering of forestry research data-particularly in such areas as forest mensuration, inventory and survey-much of value has been adapted to forestry sampling use from such areas as economics and engineering. As all forestry and related research projects become more complex and involved encompassing an increasing number and variety of variables, other sampling procedures developed for very complex problems by sociologists, economists and space scientists may find increasing application.

Foresters are increasingly concerned with other forest land uses: production of wildlife, watershed values, recreational use, erosion control, and aesthetics. The values involved in these forest land uses need to be measured in order that they may be assessed in comparison with timber values. Economists, sociologists and land-use specialists have made a beginning on the development of evaluating techniques and processes that may be of value to the forester's efforts to assess the values involved.

DEVELOPMENTS IN SPECIFIC AREAS

There are examples of new scientific developments in all forestry subject-matter areas. As is true for the general developments, some are the result of applying or adapting findings in other fields to forestry problems. Some are new developments with no recognizable counterparts in other disciplines. All are important to progress in forestry research and must be given attention in graduate education. The examples given below are recognized as a selection of developments. (These are the writer's selection. Others undertaking a similar assignment might well make a quite different choice.)

Forest biology

The research areas included under forest biology are ecology, physiology, genetics and soil science. Forest pathology and entomology are included under forest protection.

Ecology. The "ecosystems concept" has been adapted and applied to forest ecosystems. The interrelationships of organisms and their environment, the dynamic processes involved, and the energy flow through ecosystems are being studied and are providing a better understanding of these complex relationships and of the nutrient cycling process.

Energy budget concepts, involving the intimate relationships between the energy budget of vegetation and the water budget, are being developed. Related to this is the progress being made in biomass studies of forest ecosystems.

The development of a wide range of models, as indicated earlier in this discussion, has probably had more attention in forest ecology than in other forestry areas. As important to advances in forest ecology as to physiology are such scientific developments as those occurring in the area of radioisotopes, selective herbicides, growth-promoting substances, photoperiodic effects or responses and photosynthetic efficiency of various plants.

Many of the ecology studies involving forest insects, forest diseases and forest wildlife relate to this area and could well be included here.

Physiology. Physiologists have developed a better understanding of the nutritional requirements of some of our more important forest and shade tree species (12). The importance of certain minor elements, such as borax, to tree growth on certain soils, the establishment of the symptoms of nutrient deficiency, and the extent of growth response to fertilization are some aspects of tree physiology on which progress has been made.

The availability and use of radioisotopes has provided physiologists with a valuable tool in studying nutrient cycling, nutrition, water movement, etc.

A tremendous and extremely varied array of growth-controlling or growth-affecting chemicals has been developed and others are under study. The well-known herbicides or phytocides, in all of their variety, specificity and extreme effectiveness in small dosages, are well known to foresters. However, new candidates for such use and modified methods of application are under constant development by industries, universities and other groups. Chemicals for stimulation of flowering, for the production of dormancy, for the breaking of dormancy, for abscission control, as antitranspirants, as growth suppressants, for stimulation of vegetative reproduction and many other physiologically related processes are under development or have been developed.

The importance of microclimate to growth, flowering, and disease development has been demonstrated and will prove helpful to the ecologist, geneticist, pathologist and entomologist in explaining some of the variation frequently encountered in forest biology research.

Genetics. A noteworthy advance in this area is the increased recognition and emphasis being given to analytical studies of natural variation patterns in forest-tree populations, utilizing techniques borrowed or adapted from students of population genetics. Whereas much of the early study of variation was observational or descriptive, current studies involve the movement of diverse genetic types into adequately replicated plantations in different habitats and the artificial hybridization of diverse types accompanied by cytological and genetical studies of the F₁ hybrids and their progeny.

Applications of tree genetics in recent years have been most productive and successful in the area of seed source or provenance research. This is reflected in the increased attention given by foresters to natural seed sources and the increasing emphasis placed upon the establishment of half- or full-sib progeny tests and their conversion to seed orchards capable of being further improved by a recurrent selection program.

Demonstration by forest geneticists working with wood technologists of the broad range of wood quality that exists with different species, and that such wood quality characteristics may be heritable, should provide stimulation for additional future advancements.

The rapidly accumulating evidence on the importance of ecotypic variation and adaptation has had a major influence on seed source selection and has helped explain many of the earlier failures in latitudinal movement of tree species.

Soil science. Many of the new developments described for other forest biology areas could be credited as well to soil science, particularly those relating to nutrition, trace elements, and radioisotope use. Soil moisture determination by means of nuclear probes has been quite well established.

Fertilization research has progressed considerably and the limitations of this practice are being better defined. Fertilizer use is still limited to situations where the most intensive forestry is practiced, but other applications, particularly corrective fertilization, are envisioned.

Forest protection

Forest protection includes the prevention of damage by the commonly recognized destructive forces fire, insects, fungi and bacteria, animals, and wind. Fire, insects and diseases are the destructive agencies against which most protection activities are directed and with which the majority of the research is concerned.

Fire. Forest fire detection by television cameras, development of chemical mixtures that retard fire spread or decrease combustibility, improved fire-danger or fire-hazard prediction, cloud-seeding for prevention of lightning, and other significant developments have come from the intensified research in this area.

The place of prescribed fire as a management and silvicultural tool has been further defined by research, particularly in northern Europe and parts of the United States.

Psychological and socioeconomic research of the human attitude toward forest fire has thus far only opened the way to more definitive and hopefully more productive studies. The developing countries of the world, which are rather generally confronted with the practice of "fire farming" or "milpah" or "kiaingin" should have a special interest in such research.

Insects. The development of chemicals of extreme effectiveness against insects, such as DDT, Dieldrin, and the organophosphates, and their use in the control of forest insects, have been particularly spectacular. However, such developments are not without their undesirable side effects. One of these has been the tremendous reaction on the part of the public to the use of such chemicals, because of their demonstrated toxicity to man and wildlife. If it were not for such undesirable side effects, large financial investments would not be made in research aimed at developing safer or less toxic and more specific chemicals for forest insect control.

Biological control measures, particularly those involving bacteria, show promise for the control of a number of important forest insects. Forest entomologists through research on insect ecology, insect population dynamics and host susceptibility have contributed much new valuable information on insect epidemic development and prevention.

Diseases. New knowledge of the complex factors involved in the root disease of conifers, such as "little-leaf" and Fomes annosus root rot, and the demonstrated existence of antagonism between common soil-inhabiting organisms and those causing root diseases are samples of developments in this field.

The generally disappointing results obtained with antibiotics and systemic chemicals for control of tree diseases have been discouraging, but research has revealed much that should result in future progress.

Of particular interest are the results of research on such diseases as white pine blister rust and its relationship to micro- or local climatic conditions. This demonstration of the importance of microclimate to disease development and intensity could find much additional application in the control of other tree diseases.

Forest measurements

Included are mensuration, aerial photogrammetry and survey or inventory. There have been significant accomplishments in all of these areas. Mensurationists have led the way in the adoption and application of computer hardware in forestry research. Forest survey and inventory designs have become far more sophisticated, and the accuracy of such efforts has considerably improved.

The "operations research" or "systems" approach to forest measurements problems is changing the type of data needed, with weight being substituted for volume. Aerial photogrammetrists have adapted some of the developments in color films, and other methods developed by the military, to forest mapping, inventory and survey, and logging (4).

Forest economics

Forest economists have developed improved techniques for forecasting timber demands applicable locally, nationally, and on a worldwide basis. They are increasingly involved in socioeconomic research on such complex problems as assessment of recreational and wildlife values.

Linear programming models for locating forest products plants, new designs for test-marketing of products, and supply analyses procedures have been produced.

Management and silviculture

Most of the scientific advances already described apply and many could be credited as well to management and silviculture.

The so-called "operations research" approach to management problems has special significance. This development has made possible continuous and nearly instantaneous methods of determining the best raw material mix, most profitable products, variations in manufacturing process necessary and other important considerations.

Vegetation management practices for recreational areas are receiving considerable attention because of the lack of acceptance by the public and recreation managers of normal forest management practices.

In silviculture, the development of herbicides, improved genetic strains and fertilization, all previously mentioned under other headings, could equally well be included here.

Wood science, forest products, utilization

Wood technologists or wood scientists, chemists, physicists, engineers and foresters have combined to produce the variety and large number of significant scientific developments in this field.

Electron microscope. Through application of electron microscopy a better understanding is being obtained of the submicroscopic structure of wood, including the nature of the bordered pits of conifers and the size of their openings or passages. However, electron microscopy as at present applied to wood is still in its infancy and developments in this area are expected to increase manyfold in the next decade.

Computer solutions for linear and dynamic programming. The application of computer technology has been somewhat limited in academic forest products research but has recently found extensive utilization in large integrated companies. This development has made possible continuous and nearly instantaneous methods of determining the most profitable product mix, type or types of products most profitably manufactured, most advantageous location of plants, best methods of manufacturing raw materials, etc.

Dynamic testing procedures. The use of high-frequency loading cycles and impact loading of wood members has been developed. If this strength-testing method can be perfected along the lines under investigation, the much sought after "nondestructive testing procedure" may finally be realized. Recent literature indicates that progress is being made toward this long sought objective.

Stress grading of lumber. For years it was believed and reported that the modulus of elasticity of structural members was independent of grade. The significant correlation found in a number of species between stiffness and grade led to the development of "stress grading machines" for structural lumber. This is without doubt one of the most significant developments in the forest products engineering field. While its present application is still small, its potential is unlimited.

Fundamentals of adhesion. Extensive recent research into surface phenomena involved in the bonding of metals and plastics has developed much new information and provided new approaches in research on gluing of wood, production of fiber products, and the bonding of wood to metals and plastics.

Irradiation wood. Irradiation of wood, primarily gamma irradiation from cobalt sources, has shown some promise in connection with the detection of interior defects and decay in forest products and in the polymerization of resins, particularly methacrylate and acrylate, in the wood structure.

New resins and coatings. There has been an almost infinite variety of developments in the field of synthetic resin glues, synthetic resin coatings and impregnants for wood. These developments have made possible the manufacture of marine plywood, curved laminated members, resin-impregnated wood such as Compreg, and many other products.

Wood quality relationships. Through the leadership of personnel at the United States Forest Products Laboratory, of several European forestry research groups, and of many forestry schools, this important subject is finally receiving the attention it has long deserved. The additional emphasis being given wood fiber products has also focused additional attention on such wood qualities as: specific gravity, defects, and extractive content.

Wood chemistry. Chemical studies of cellulose polymers, copolymers and polymer-grafting have provided much that is new and valuable. New information on the chemical structure of lignin is available and a number of new products, such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), are being produced as a result of intensified research on lignin utilization. However, none of the new developments has as yet provided the type of breakthrough needed to make cellulose, lignin, and the hemicelluloses more important raw materials for the chemical industry.

Wood/moisture relationships. Considerable research has been concentrated on this complex relationship. The result has been better understanding of shrinking and swelling phenomena, development of stabilization techniques, and means of obtaining deeper penetration of liquids into woods.

Summary and conclusions

Graduate education and research in forestry are considerable and important in many countries. But they have not yet reached the proportions evident in other disciplines and there is urgent need for much added growth and strengthening.

The intensified research programs have developed many new techniques, processes, solutions and better understanding of forestry problems. The application to forest problems of new scientific knowledge from other fields has been particularly stimulating but forestry researchers have made many original contributions and advances.

The results of these scientific advances and accomplishments of research have significantly affected graduate education. Although the race is somewhat slower, forestry educators and researchers, too, are "in a race against the possibility of teaching obsolete information or building research programs on a crumbling outmoded base."

There is need for a major international effort to prepare a more complete, more definitive, and better referenced summary of new scientific developments in all forestry fields.

Literature cited

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