Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) is an important softwood species in Northern Europe and is frequently used as material for various wood protection systems. In Europe, EN 113 is the standard basidiomycete laboratory durability test method, using mass loss as evaluation criteria. In this paper quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to characterize colonization by basidiomycetes in Scots pine sapwood, but also to learn more about the EN 113 test. Two different wood sample sizes were tested. For Gloeophyllum trabeum the largest sample size gave the highest mass loss, while for the smallest samples Trametes versicolor gave the highest mass loss. As expected, fungal DNA content and mass loss in Scots pine sapwood samples decayed by G. trabeum became higher with increasing incubation time of 16 weeks. More unexpectedly, the T. versicolor DNA content in Scots pine sapwood samples was highest at the start of the incubation period and declined during the incubation period, while mass loss increased during the 28 week incubation period. The fungal colonization in the side and middle of EN 113 samples was tested. Highest DNA contents of G. trabeum were measured in the sides during 16 weeks of incubation. The T. versicolor DNA content was higher or similar in the side compared to the middle of the samples until week 20. For weeks 20 and 22 the DNA content was higher in the middle than in the sides, while for the remaining incubation period (weeks 24, 26 and 28) it was quite similar. TGA was shown to be a useful and fast method for chemical characterization of brown rot decayed wood, but cannot be used for white rot decayed wood. For T. versicolor moisture and fungal DNA explained most of the variation in mass loss, while for G. trabeum moisture explained most of the variation in mass loss.

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