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This volume contains reviews on different aspects of human, animal
and plant bioclimatology; the mechanisms linking human melanoma
with radiation from both the sun and artificial sources; field and
experimental studies on the health of farm animals in adverse
climatic environments and the impact of climatic extremes on
airborne disease organisms and their hosts' defense mechanisms;
measurement techniques used in plant bioclimatology, including
thermoelectric methods of measuring sap flow and transpiration in
plants, remote sensing techniques: the use of lasers in both
spectrofluorometry, and the study of the geometrical structure of
plant canopies and the use of radar mounted in aircraft and
satellites to monitor forest size and state.
Energy and agriculture are both extremely broad subjects and their
interactions - the subject of this book - cover almost the full
spectrum of the agricultural sciences. Yet the subject is a
relatively new one whose importance first received widespread
recognition barely a decade ago, following the dramatic increase in
oil prices during 1973. The impact of this increase was such as to
promote a world-wide debate on the future direction that
agriculture should take. This debate was, and is, of particular
concern in countries where agriculture plays a leading role in
economic and social development. During the last half century many
national agricultural systems have been transformed from almost
closed, self-sufficient systems with few locally produced inputs
geared to satisfy local requirements, to intensive, open systems,
utilizing large quantities of energy-rich inputs such as fossil
fuel for manufactured agro-chemicals, water distribution and
imported animal feedstuffs to produce a range of sophisticated
products, often for export, which in tum require many energy-rich
inputs for their marketing. This industrialization of agriculture
has proved to be very successful in many respects and indeed was
accepted as a general model for agricultural development allowing
increased productivity and efficiency per unit land, labor and
water, even in areas with limited natural resources.
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