Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrometry was used to examine wood decay by the brown-rot fungus, Postia placenta. Wood slivers of Douglas-fir, white fir, redwood, sweetgum and yellow poplar were incubated for 4 weeks in custom-made quartz ESR tubes with or without Postia placenta. In all wood species without fungus, a weak partially resolved signal (about g=2, presumably due to manganese) was detected. No manganese-like signal was found in aerial hyphae of the fungus. Wood slivers with fungus had a smooth, well-resolved manganese signal with a larger amplitude than wood without fungus, indicating a larger amount of paramagnetic manganese. The ratio of amplitudes for slivers with and without fungus increased with incubation time, reflecting an accumulation of paramagnetic manganese during decay. Due to the nature of this closed system without culture media, the accumulation of paramagnetic manganese is most likely due to the change of wood manganese by the fungus.

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