An inspection of twelve year old, CCA-treated Pinus radiata wood from an industrial cooling tower showed extensive surface decay of wood. Electron microscopic examination of decaying compression wood indicated that compression wood cells were attacked exclusively by bacteria, which were of erosion and tunnelling types. As compared to the normal wood, compression wood appeared to be more resistance to the bacterial attacks present. The highly lignified outer S2 wall and the middle lamellae in the compression wood tracheids were resistant to erosion bacteria, and were only occasionally attacked by tunnelling bacteria. These observations are discussed in relation to the information available on the structure and chemical composition of compression wood.

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