Observations on the effect of two preservatives on settlement and development of the marine wood-borer Martesia striata L

IRG/WP 498

J E Barnacle, F F K Ampong

Small heartwood specimens of three tropical hardwoods namely kusia or opepe (Nauclea diderrichii (De Wild) Merrill), emire or idigbo (Terminalia ivorensis A. Chev.) and subaha or abura (Mitragyna stipulose (D.C.) O. Kuntze) were treated with either creosote (BSS 144 type) or a copper-chrome-arsenic preservative and submerged in the sea at Tema, Ghana. They were regularly cleaned of fouling and observed for marine borer damage over a 36-month period. The evidence indicates: (i) the heartwood of each species resists Martesia striata L. infestation for nearly 24 months; (ii) creosote does not markedly inhibit initial settlement of Martesia striata (iii) once successfully established in creosote-treated specimens, Martesia striata develops in size at a much slower rate than those successfully settling on, and developing in, copper-chrome-arsenic treated wood samples of the same species; (iv) copper-chrome-arsenic (Tanalith CT 106) preservative inhibits the settlement of Martesia striata, but once settled the rate of growth of this borer differs little from that in untreated specimens.


Keywords: MARTESIA STRIATA; CREOSOTE; GHANA; TROPICAL TIMBERS; SETTLEMENT; MARINE BORERS; CCA; DEVELOPMENT

Conference: 83-05-09/13 Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia


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