Applied Environmental ScienceAuthor(s): Trevor DaviesSource: Area, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1974), pp. 63-65Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20000822 .

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Annual Conference 63

factors, as well as access and landscape, in attempting to explain the attractiveness of particular areas.

A. Pardoe (in a paper summarized by J. T. Coppock) showed that many second homers in Central Wales had family ties to the region and a sizeable proportion either spoke or were learning Welsh. Inheritance of farm cottages by city dwellers is important in France, where passive acquisition may gain significance in the future as second homes are transmitted from one generation to the next. Housing shortages for local residents have followed second-home purchase in some areas of England and Wales, but advantages include payment of rates and purchase of goods and services. Use of country cottages as retirement homes can, however, raise problems linked to inaccessibility to services for senior citizens. Some second-homers attempt to preserve traditional agricultural features, as at Sivry in southern Belgium where farmers

were encouraged to retain hedgerows that were threatened with uprooting as part of plot consolidation (G. Albarre).

Future studies may usefully be orientated toward economic analysis of the multiplier effect of second-home development and examination of possible substitutes for country cottages in the broader field of rural management.

Hugh Clout University College London

Applied environmental science In keeping with the conference theme of Geography and public policy the physical aspects of geography were integrated in a one-and-a-half-day symposium of Applied Environmental Science. Under this all-embracing title the organizers identified eight key applied and management issues within the broad field of environmental sciences. Each topic constituted a session in the symposium.

Individuals were invited to present papers at the symposium; this ensured that there was a unity to each session. As copies of the papers were available for consulta tion during the conference, papers were presented and not read. Thus there was con siderable opportunity for discussion.

The symposium opened with two papers on Coastal protection by sand injection techniques. The Hydraulics Research Station, Wallingford is pioneering the use of beach nourishment methods, as an alternative to groynes and sea walls, to alleviate some beach erosion problems. The results of three pilot studies were presented. W. A. Price (Hydraulics Research Station) discussed the effectiveness of the technique at Bournemouth and Portobello, and S. G. Craig-Smith (East Anglia, Environmental Sciences), the Lowestoft Gorleston case.

This engineering theme was continued in a session on Problems in alluvial channel design. The first problem under discussion was that of meandering. In his paper F. G. Charlton (Hydraulics Research Station) noted that the reasons for meandering are still unknown, consequently, it is necessary to rely on empirical methods for design purposes. The second problem concerned the identification of a design discharge for nature channels. Dr R. D. Hey (East Anglia, Environmental Sciences) showed that natural channels adjust their shape, dimensions and bankfall flow to the discharge which collectively does most work in the long term. Evidence from the rivers Wye, Severn and Tweed indicates that the return period of this flow is the 1.5 year flood on the annual flood series. Consequently this is the design discharge for gravel bed rivers.

Not surprisingly the session on The contribution of ecologists to the management of recreation areas provoked the most discussion. Dr J. P. Barkham (East Anglia, En vironmental Sciences) opened the session by defining the concept of carrying capacity as it applied to the ecological aspects of recreation site management. Research in this field was summarized by Dr M. J. Liddle (North Wales, Plant Biology). This indicated that there was a considerable body of information on the effects of trampling on vegetation, the assessment of habitat, vulnerability and ecological value, the estimation of physical carrying capacity and on visitor manipulation techniques. The application of this information in recreation site management was discussed by D. K. Brotherton

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64 Annual Conference

(Countryside Commission). In particular he stressed the need for advice from ecologists on management issues especially at sites where experimental restoration projects have been mounted because of excessive wear and tear.

Three guest speakers from the Atomic Energy Research Establishment opened the Atmospheric pollution in rural areas session. They brought the audience up to date in their fields of research and suggested where further research is needed. Dr A. G.

Chamberlain considered dispersion and distribution of lead, and concluded that atmospheric lead has not increased greatly in recent years. Dr J. A. Garland examined the transfer of sulphur dioxide to the ground by using the aerodynamic gradient

method and radioactive sulphur as a tracer. According to Dr R. A. Cox, photochemical ozone production is quite common in Britain under suitable meteorological conditions. Dr M. H. Unsworth (Nottingham, School of Agriculture) and P. G. Cox (Nottingham, Geography) outlined the effects of airborne dust and smoke on the surface receipt of solar energy. R. A. Barnes (University College London, Geography) suggested that there is considerable transport of smoke and sulphur dioxide into country areas of

England and Wales. The following session on Water pollution in rural area was introduced by Dr A. M. C.

Edwards (Yorkshire River Authority) who examined some of the causes of the decrease in water quality and showed particular interest in nitrate. The theme was continued by F. H. W. Green (Oxford, Department of Agricultural Science) who related poorer water quality to increased fertilizer application and to a marked increase in the fre quency of heavy rainfalls. The effects of water quality changes on river vegetation were discussed by Dr S. M. Haslam (Cambridge, Botany), who suggested a simple visual

method of assessing the changes in vegetation. The session on Hydrologic simulation modelling covered deterministic models.

Dr D. G. Jamieson (Water Resources Board) discussed the automated control strategy that the Water Resources Board have developed for operating the multipurpose reservoir system on the river Dee. In contrast, Dr P. E. O'Connell (Imperial College, Civil Engineering), in his review of stochastic modelling and simulation techniques in hydrology, demonstrated how it is possible to simulate annual, monthly and daily flows based on the probabilities derived from historical records.

B. G. Wales-Smith (Meteorological Office) introduced the Precipitation and urban drainage session by describing the work of the Meteorological Office in the analysis of rainfall data, and continued by examining some of the work of the UK Flood Studies Project. Dr M. Jones (King's College London, Geography) outlined the major objec tives of the East African rainfall project and presented interesting results from three dense raingauge networks in East Africa.

The final session, Groundlevel climatology for crop growth was probably the most diverse of all the sessions. H. Oliver (Institute of Hydrology) described the sophisti cated sampling network at Thetford Forest. He stressed the importance of the bio logical control as far as transpiration losses are concerned, and the evaporation of interrupted water from the canopy. A water balance method was adopted by G. Russell (Nottingham, School of Agriculture) in comparing evaporation rates from different crop covers. The method was successful in allowing him to determine differences in evaporation over rye-grass, barley and woodland. Dr L. W. Hanna (Newcastle, Geo graphy) correlated final yield and water availability for representative crops in Uganda. Indices of water stress were used to test the suitability of marginal areas for successful commercial production, and probabilities of soil water deposits and confidence limits of expected final yields were suggested. A home-developed hot wire anemometer was described by Dr H. Lister (Newcatle, Geography) and the results from the instrument and thermocouples were used to test the validity of the turbulent transfer coefficient

method of calculating fluxes. The symposium was concluded by R. Evans (Soil Survey) who demonstrated the use of infra-red linescan imagery for determining ground temperatures, although he stressed the need for care in choosing the waveband.

Large temperature gradients, which may have been missed by conventional methods, were monitored by this method.

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Annual Conference 65

The organizers of the symposium were Dr R. D. Hey and Dr T. D. Davies (East Anglia, Environmental Sciences).

Trevor Davies University of East Anglia

Young research workers' forum The most important thing to be said about the Young Research Workers' Forum is that if the five papers delivered are a typical sample of the professional competence of postgraduate research at this time, then the future of the subject and the Institute is bright indeed. Important ideas were lucidly and concisely delivered to a small but interested audience. Papers on locational change in multi-plant enterprises,

M. J. Healy (Shefeld), in professional offices G. Pritchard (Aberystwyth), and of farms serving processing plants by contract arrangements P. Hart (Wye), outlined the spatial dimension to understanding the changing character of the primary, secon dary and tertiary sectors of the economy. Slope development on colliery spoil heaps

M. J. Haigh (Birmingham) and road haulage frieght from Hull docks R. J. McCalla (Hull), emphasized data-gathering difficulties and their methodological significance. Indeed, the question was raised as to whether it is now time that the Institute should structure the experience of its members in the data-gathering process and provide some guide lines that would facilitate the research activities of its members. As the social science data-gathering boom continues and becomes increasingly focused on interviewing decision-makers, some guidance as to the legitimate responsibilities of both parties involved has become increasingly necessary.

D. R. Diamond London School of Economics

Geographical influences on political decision-makers This session, in common with others in the conference, contained some papers which strictly speaking belonged in other sessions, and there were other sessions which strictly speaking belonged here. Also in common with other sessions it suffered from the late withdrawal of a speaker. Nevertheless, the session was well attended for one on the supposedly moribund subject of Political Geography.

Peter Taylor and Graham Gudgin (Newcastle) dealt with the politically partisan effects of the British Parliamentary Boundary Commission's attempts to be politically non-partisan. The Commission's boundary solutions have an inevitably partisan effect since political allegiance is related to class, which itself has distinct spatial patterns. Gwyn Rowley (Sheffield) examined three hypotheses: that Labour seats are smaller than Conservative seats, and are losing population relative to Conservative seats; that the British redistricting process does not satisfy democratic ideals; and that

British election results are predictable, and are not the fortuitous outcomes of proba bility experiments. John Agnew (Ohio State) presented a joint paper by himself and Kevin Cox which demonstrated a technique for measuring the discrepancy between two sets of boundaries, based on concepts from information theory. This technique could be used, for instance, to compare a set of local government boundaries with a theoretical set.

Alan Taylor (Swansea) desribed how the Second World War transformed British electoral behaviour from diversity to a high level of national uniformity. This has

meant that potential and actual public representatives need to worry more about party nominations than about the electorate. Since 1950 there has been a relaxation of national uniformity, and politicians would do well to note the implications of this.

The session concluded with half an hour's discussion, and bodes well for future Political Geography sessions. The subject clearly has a contribution to make which is relevant to those whom it studies-the politicians.

Alan Taylor University of Wales, Swansea

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