9320003 Dean This grant will provide support to allow scholars from outside the United States to participate in the 1994 "International Conference on Tree Rings, Environment, and Humanity: Relationships and Processes." In particular, effort will focus on assisting researchers from the third world and Eastern Europe. Without NSF support, such individuals could not attend. In temperate regions of the world, trees add rings annually and differences in the thickness and chemical composition of the rings are determined by local environmental factors. Resultant series from mature trees may cover hundreds of years and provide excellent information on environmental change. Tree rings also serve a valuable dating function since rings from archaeological sites can be matched to master sequences. Tree ring research is conducted in many parts of the world and the results are of value to a wide range of scientists. For these reasons, international conferences which bring together diverse groups of scientists are extremely important and the 1994 meeting will serve this function. The amount of dendrochronological research in the developing world has increased significantly in recent years. Therefore it is particularly important to have representation from scholars in these regions. ***
