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Micromorphological and chemical changes of archaeological woods from wrecked ship's timbers
1987 - IRG/WP 4136
Micromorphological and chemical alterations of sea-waterlogged woods obtained from the ship-wrecked materials which had been submerged in Yellow Sea for over 700 years were investigated. The woods were deteriorated in varying degrees by marine organisms depending on species and parts of the woods. Under the light and scanning electron microscope the morphological characteristics of deteriorated wo...
Y S Kim


Soft rot in CCA-treated utility poles in Sweden
1989 - IRG/WP 1398
Soft rot investigations of CCA-treated utility poles (Pinus sylvestris L.) have been conducted throughout large parts of Sweden during 1974-1985. The investigation included 179 utility poles of the State Power Board which had been used for 10-18 years in the different administrative regions from northern to southern Sweden. In addition, 193 telephone poles from the Östersund area and 218 from the...
H Friis-Hansen, H Lundström


Fungal and bacterial attack of CCA-treated Pinus radiata timbers from a water-cooling tower
1991 - IRG/WP 1488
Transmission electron microscopy of decaying CCA-treated Pinus radiata timbers from an industrial water cooling tower showed presence of a thick biofilm covering some areas of the wood. The biofilm contained various morphologically distinct forms of microorganisms embedded in a slime. The study provided evidence of the activity of soft rot fungi and tunnelling and erosion bacteria in wood cells. T...
A P Singh, M E Hedley, D R Page, C S Han, K Atisongkroh


A short note on fungal decay in K33-treated poles
1982 - IRG/WP 1169
Soft rot cavities and erosion of the lumen have been found in K33-treated Pinus sylvestris poles from the years 1956-66 by microscopic studies. Poor treatment quality has been proved for some of these poles. The microscopy showed an unusual pattern of attack, and pre-treatment decay is suspected but not yet proved. Sounding the poles and using the Pilodyn indicated decay, but poking did not. Quant...
H Friis-Hansen


Degradation of the normal fibre walls of rubberwood (Hevea brasiliensis) by the tropical blue-stain fungus Botryodiplodia theobromae
1998 - IRG/WP 98-10286
Rubberwood was examined by light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) after exposure to the common tropical sapstain fungus Botryodiplodia theobromae for four weeks to study hyphal colonisation of wood cells and to determine if this fungus also degraded lignified normal fibre cell walls in addition to the walls of non-lignified elements. Light microscopy revealed relatively large ...
A A H Wong, A P Singh


Ultrastructural observations on wood-degrading erosion bacteria
1986 - IRG/WP 1283
G F Daniel, T Nilsson


Micromorphology of the decay caused by Chondrostereum purpureum (Pers.:Fr.) Pouzar and Flammulina velutipes (Curt.:Fr.) Singer
1988 - IRG/WP 1358
Two basidiomycetes, Chondrostereum purpureum and Flammulina velutipes, form typical soft rot cavities in hardwoods and softwoods. Cavity formation is prececed by T-branching or bending of hyphae penetrating the wood cell walls. The two fungi also cause erosion of the wood cell walls....
T Nilsson, G F Daniel


Importance of bacteria in the deterioration of archaeological woods
1995 - IRG/WP 95-10122
An electron microscopic study of archaeological woods from different sites and of different ages revealed that the woods had been attacked by erosion bacteria, tunnelling bacteria and soft rot fungi. Bacterial erosion appeared to be most widespread, and was present independently as well as together with tunnelling and soft rot attacks. Thus, in many instances bacterial erosion was the only type of...
Yoon Soo Kim, A P Singh, T Nilsson


Decay types observed in small stakes of pine and Alstonia scholaris inserted in different types of unsterile soil
1990 - IRG/WP 1443
The attack of various wood-degrading microorganisms occurring in mini-stakes of pine and Alstonia scholaris buried in various types of unsterile soil was studied. Attacks by white rot, brown rot, soft rot, erosion bacteria, tunnelling bacteria and actinomycetes were found. Soft rot occurred in all soils, whereas attack by white rot and especially brown rot and erosion bacteria was rare. The type o...
T Nilsson, G F Daniel


Evidence for wood cell wall degradation by the blue stain fungus Botryodiplodia theobromae Pat
1994 - IRG/WP 94-10077
Botryodiplodia theobromae Pat., a world wide ubiquitous polyfagus sapstain fungus, was found able to destroy the cell walls of birch fibres (Betula verrucosa Ehrh.) but not Caribbean (Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis Barr. and Golf.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) tracheids. The fungus caused characteristic erosion of fibre cell walls similar to soft rot type 2; destruction of the S1 - S2 int...
O Encinas, G F Daniel


A light and electron microscopic study of decayed CCA-treated radiata pine (Pinus radiata) wood from a cooling tower
1994 - IRG/WP 94-10056
An inspection of an industrial cooling tower in New Zealand showed surface decay of 12 year old Pinus radiata wood panels treated with CCA preservative to a retention of around 15 kg/m³ of salt. Wood decay micromorphology typical of that caused by soft rot fungi, white rot fungi, 'stripy' and 'v-shaped' erosion bacteria and cavitation bacteria were all commonly...
A P Singh, R N Wakeling, D R Page


Microbial decay of an archaeological wood
1994 - IRG/WP 94-10053
A light and transmission electron microscopic investigation of an archaeological wood was undertaken to determine the cause of its deterioration. The wood came from a bulwark constructed in early 1100 in the lake Tingstäde Träsk on the island Gotland in Sweden. The samples of the wood, which was identified as Pinus sylvestris, were taken from a depth of 0.85 m below the bottom level. The wood wa...
A P Singh, T Nilsson, G F Daniel


Microscopic characteristics of microbial attacks of CCA-treated radiata pine wood
1993 - IRG/WP 93-10011
Light and electron microscopic observations were made of CCA-treated radiata timbers, which had been placed in service in a vineyard soil as supporting poles and as part of a house pile, to determine the cause of their deterioration. The house pile had failed in service after between 9 and 13 years and was of particular interest because decay was more severe in deeper regions than at the surface a...
A P Singh, R N Wakeling


Degradation features of waterlogged archaeological compression wood
1998 - IRG/WP 98-10258
The degradation characteristics of waterlogged archaeological compression wood excavated in South Korea were examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Degradation of Pinus compression wood occurred mainly in the inner part of S2 layer. In contrast, the outer part of S2 layer remained relatively intact. CLSM and TEM showed the erosion type of ...
Yoon Soo Kim, A P Singh


Bacteria are important degraders of cooling tower timbers: New Zealand experience
1995 - IRG/WP 95-10128
Microscopic examinations of CCA-treated Pinus radiata timbers in industrial cooling towers in New Zealand showed bacteria and soft rot fungi to be primarily responsible for the decay of these timbers. Of these micro-organisms, erosion bacteria appeared to be most widespread, attacking wood cell walls independently as well as together with tunnelling bacteria and soft rot fungi. Tunnelling bacteria...
A P Singh, R N Wakeling


Bacterial degradation of Pinus radiata compression wood
1996 - IRG/WP 96-10153
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...
A P Singh, R N Wakeling


Ingestion of wood-degrading micro-organisms
1991 - IRG/WP 4169
An ultrastructural study was carried out on the digestive tract contents of Limnoria lignorum, frass, gallery walls and surface structures of the animals. The purpose of the study was to determine whether wood-degrading bacteria, fungi and other microbes and/or wood degraded by these microbes were present in gut regions and therefore could provide indirectly a nutritional source for Limnoria. Both...
G F Daniel, S M Cragg, T Nilsson


Micromorphology of oak wood degraded by brown rot fungus Coniophora puteana
2000 - IRG/WP 00-10356
To characterize the degradation of hardwood by brown rot fungus, Coniophora puteana was incubated on the wood blocks of Quercus accutissima. For comparison, the same fungus was also incubated on the pine wood blocks of Pinus densiflora. In softwood, the shape of the wood cells and thickness of the cell appeared unchanged even the loss of birefringence in the affected areas. In contrast, oak wood d...
Yoon Soo Kim, Seung-Gon Wi, Kwang-Ho Lee


Bacterial degradation of wood cell wall: A review of degradation patterns
1990 - IRG/WP 1460
Information from bacterial degradation studies of 60's and 70's was reviewed by Nilsson in 1982. The application of electron microscopy to this area in recent years has provided much useful information and has eliminated earlier scepticism among workers about the ability of bacteria to degrade lignified wood cell walls. Studies using transmission electron microscopy together with...
A P Singh, J A Butcher


Use of Confocal Profilometry to Quantify the Weathering of Wood
2009 - IRG/WP 09-20421
The methods that have been used to screen chemicals for their ability to prevent the weathering of wood involve assessing the loss in weight and tensile strength of treated wood veneers or measuring the rate of erosion of exposed and unexposed (masked) wood subjected to weathering. The erosion of wood during natural weathering occurs slowly and long exposure times are required to produce differenc...
Chunling Liu, P Evans


Simulation and Investigation of Wood Degradation by Erosion Bacteria in Laboratory Experiments
2010 - IRG/WP 10-20431
A Microcosm experiment was successfully set up to establish, monitor and manipulate bacterial wood degradation under low oxygen conditions. Sound pine sticks were placed in waterlogged sediment from a heavily decayed pine pile foundation site in Amsterdam. The system was subject to different gassing treatment regimes in order to investigate the role of oxygen in the bacterial degradation process o...
J Gelbrich, E I Kretschmar, N Lamersdorf, H Militz


Micromorphological and chemical characteristics of waterlogged archaeological bamboos excavated from the Yellow Sea
2012 - IRG/WP 12-10785
Bamboos have widely used as documentation material in Far Eastern countries such China, Korea and Japan. In particular, bamboo slips as documentation material were extensively used even after the wide spread of paper in those countries. A large number of bamboo slips have been excavated from the shipwreck since 2009 in Korea. Understanding the cause of deterioration of ancient bamboos is crucial f...
Mi Young Cha, Yoon Soo Kim


Preliminary evaluation of degradation patterns in wood samples from the Yenikapı shipwrecks
2013 - IRG/WP 13-10798
The uncovering of several shipwrecks during the excavation of the Marmaray Rail Tube Tunnel Project in Istanbul provides an important opportunity to evaluate waterlogged woods buried for centuries. Identification of these woods showed that a variety of species was used in the ships. One shipwreck (a galley) from the Yenikapı Marmaray was examined using electron microscopy. The micrographs rev...
C Köse, A M Taylor