A study of the microbial ecology of small stakes of Pinus sylvestris and Betula pendula, both untreated, and treated with a 1% solution of CCA is in progress. Results are presented for the early stages, up to 18 months.Two new techniques were developed linked by the philosophy of objective assessment. Isolations were made from the wood in a pre-determined pattern and transferred to four selective media. Fungi were assigned to the most appropriate 'Ecological Group" and analysed in terms of frequency of isolation and related to space, time and substrate. Secondly, sections were cut and "microquadrats" scored for various colonisation/decay features in a regime compatable with that of the isolation. These were then analysed using a computer. Results from the two techniques were pooled to reveal what the main colonists were at any.·time and their possible functional significance - whether passive inhabitant or active decomposer. In this way a succession of organisms was revealed, which varied in nature and rates of colonisation and·decay dependant upon the substrate. In both untreated woods Rasteria, Primary Moulds and Stainers were the initial colonists being followed by Soft Rots and then Basidiomycetes and the cellulolytic Secondary Moulds. Decay was principally caused by Basidiomycetes and reached significant levels in untreated birch by 12 months, but not until 18 months in pine. Soft rot attack remained at low levels throughout. In both treated woods a similar succession was evident except that Basidiomycetes were excluded, Soft Rots representing the climax organisms. Significant soft rot attack was evident in trated birch by 12 months, but the treated pine remained sound, although soft rot organisms were present in large numbers, posing the question of their food source.

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