Soil respirometry was employed to examine the relationship between both the performance of copper organic preservatives in contact with and the amount of carbon dioxide evolved from soil and the effect of wood treated with preservatives on carbon turnover in soil. Wood was treated with a range of copper organic preservatives intended for use in ground contact as well as an organic preservative intended for use above ground. The treated wood was incubated in columns of microbiologically active soil for 9 months. During the initial 6 months, carbon dioxide being evolved from the soil was measured on a continuous basis using an infrared gas analyser. Soil metabolism was stimulated at a number of ‘trigger’ points during the initial 6 months of the study and the impact of the presence of the treated wood on both basal soil respiration and substrate induced respiration was measured. After 9 months, the wood samples were removed from the soil column and any mass loss was recorded. The relationship between carbon dioxide evolved from the soil and mass loss was investigated. This paper presents initial data from this study. It describes the system employed and the outcome of a number of key events. Mass loss is described and initial correlation data is presented. The method appears to present a useful approach to investigating the impact of wood treatments of localised carbon turnover in soil and may provide a predictive model for assessing the performance of treatments intended for use in wood in contact with soil.

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