School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences - Theses
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ItemThe mechanical properties and characteristics of the timber of spotted gum (Eucalyptus maculata Hook.) in relation to origin and maturity( 1978)Natural forests are of primary interest to foresters and other scientists since these types of forests are the main source of genetic and plantation materials. Nevertheless only few studies on variability in natural forests seem to have been undertaken so far, owing to problems occurring in the measuring of numerous variables. For instance juvenile and mature stages of trees and their timbers often differ in such characteristics as growth habit and density and mechanical properties of wood. The external factors of environment including climatic factors, just as much as geographic variations and. genetic characteristics exert their influence on natural populations. There seems to be considerable disagreement as to how environmental factors such as position of the tree within a stand, silvicultural practices and site conditions influence various properties. It is not possible within the scope of this thesis to cover all these aspects. The study on which this paper is based has three primary objectives: 1. To give a description of the characteristics of the standing Eucalyptus maculata Hook. tree together with the properties and uses of its timber. 2. To study the extent of variation between the strength properties and density of the timber of mature and immature trees from the same area. 3. To investigate the effect of geographical origin (latitude) and provenance variation of the species.