IRG Documents Database and Compendium


Search and Download IRG Documents:



Between and , sort by


Displaying your search results

Your search resulted in 21 documents.


Natural Durability of Tropical Species – Variations and Prospects
2005 - IRG/WP 05-10568
The tropical timber resources of the world play an unequivocal role in economic development of both the tropical timber producing and importing regions. This paper describes natural durability as an important and preferred wood quality of tropical species of the world with emphasis on Malaysian hardwoods, the link between various aspects of tropical hardwood durability, hardwood utilization and bi...
A H H Wong, Yoon Soo Kim, A P Singh, Wang Choon Ling


Genetic Engineering in tree breeding
1998 - IRG/WP 98-10294
The genetic improvement of forest trees by classical breeding is a slow process in comparison with that of annual crops. Tree breeding however is of great importance and has led to trees with better growth characteristics and better disease resistance. An important wood characteristic which has been neglected in breeding programs is wood durability. The durability of the wood will determine for wh...
J Van Doorsselaere, H Beeckman, M Van Montagu, W Boerjan


What can DNA fingerprinting, aggression tests and morphometry contribute to the identification of colonies of the Formosan subterranean termite
2000 - IRG/WP 00-10371
Multilocus DNA fingerprinting, aggression tests and morphometry were compared to evaluate their potential for the identification of colonies of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in Hawaii. DNA fingerprinting separates the termites from all studied collection sites. Since the genetic similarity between termites from different collection sites lies...
C Husseneder, J K Grace


Decay resistance of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) heartwood against brown rot
2002 - IRG/WP 02-10433
Natural decay resistance of wood is mainly restricted in the heartwood and based on wood microstructure and chemical composition. The genetic variation in the durability of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) wood against decay and the relationship between resistance and chemical composition was studied. The laboratory tests of 6 and 8 weeks were carried out with a brown rot fungus Coniophora puteana...
H Viitanen, A M Harju, P Kainulainen, M Venäläinen


An engineering model for the decay of timber in ground contact
2003 - IRG/WP 03-20260
To predict the residual strength of an engineered structure, it is first necessary to predict the effect of decay. A model was developed in which the effective area of structural decay in large section timbers was defined as that area that could be picked out with a pen-knife. Some limited studies indicated that for practical purposes the remaining wood could be assumed to have its full residual s...
R H Leicester, C-H Wang, M N Nguyen, J D Thornton, G Johnson, D Gardner, G C Foliente, C MacKenzie


Summaries of two Russian papers received from Professor Dr. D.A. Belenkov and V.A. Seletskaya of the Ural Forest Engineering Institute, Sibirsky Trakt, 37, Sverdlovsk, USSR, on the toxicity to Coniophora cerebella of salts of hydrofluoric acid and some fluoroborates
1977 - IRG/WP 298
1) Evaluation of the toxicity of some salts of hydrofluoric acid against the house cellar fungus (Coniophora cerebella Schroet) Data are presented on the method of probability evaluation of the toxicity of the fluorides of sodium, ammonium, potassium, zinc and iron. On the retention of fluorine in wood all salts, except iron, possess practically equal toxicity at the standard level of the probability of the protection of the wood - 0.95 . There is good agreement between the analytically and graphically determined dose level. Evidence is given for dose variabitility, probabilities of wood protection at 0.5 and 0.95, the curve of efficacy - activity and the construction of the empirical probit graph. 2) Investigation of the toxicity of some borofluorides towards the house cellar fungus Probability evaluation of the toxicity of borofluorides against the cellar fungus, and probit analysis evidence show that toxicity decreases in the sequence sodium borofluoride, copper borofluoride, tributyltin borofluoride. The effectiveness of protection method is able to evaluate the amount of fluorine and boron required in the wood.
C Grant


Decay resistance of Siberian larch wood against brown rot fungi - Part 2. The effect of genetic variation
1998 - IRG/WP 98-10287
Wood natural decay resistance is mainly restricted in the heartwood part of tree and based on wood microstructure and chemical composition. However, the variation of decay resistant in different wood species is vide and the effect of genotype on decay resistance of Siberian larch wood grown in Finland is not known. The aim of this work was to find out the variation on decay resistance of Siberian ...
H Viitanen, L Paajanen, T Nikkanen, P Velling


Decay resistance of Siberian larch wood against brown rot fungus. - Part 3. The variation between plus trees and their grafted clones
2000 - IRG/WP 00-10350
The aim of the study was to estimate the variation in the decay resistance of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) wood using mature plus trees and their grafted clones. Samples were collected with an increment core borer from 11 original plus trees and their 25-year-old grafted seed orchard clones. A typical brown rot fungus, Coniophora puteana (Schum. ex Fr.) Karst. (BAM Ebw. 15), was used as ...
H Viitanen, L Paajanen, M Venäläinen, A Harju, P Velling


Aureobasidium or Hormonema? A Genetic Approach.
2004 - IRG/WP 04-10529
Aureobasidium pullulans is the main organism causing disfigurement of coatings on wood and the surface of exposed timber. This disfigurement of timber in-service is referred to as “bluestain in-service”. A. pullulans is also associated with the sapstaining of dead wood in the forest and in-service. A. pullulans is noted for its highly variable growth forms (polymorphisms). This variability pre...
M J Ray, D J Dickinson, M Buck


A questionnaire survey to establish the perceptions of UK specifiers concerning the key material attributes of timer for use in marine and fresh water engineering
2004 - IRG/WP 04-10519
Engineers have a key role in making informed decisions on the type of materials to be used in the schemes they design and construct. Currently, in England and Wales, it is believed that some £500m per year is invested in flood and coastal defence engineering. There is a lack of centralised data in the UK holding information on timber for usage in fluvial and, particularly coastal engineering. A...
J R Williams, G S Sawyer, S M Cragg, J Simm


Distribution and genetic variation of Reticulitermes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in Portugal
2006 - IRG/WP 06-10581
The genus Reticulitermes has a Holartic distribution and is widely represented in southern Europe. It is established in Portugal, across the full range of ambient environmental conditions, using different types of wood resources, as available, and nesting ubiquitously in many types of soil. Sequencing of part of the mtDNA COII gene revealed that all the specimens sampled on a N-S transect of the c...
T Nobre, L Nunes, P Eggleton, D E Bignell


The Development of a novel method to preserve reeds using an environmentally friendly timber preservative and a unique engineering design.
2006 - IRG/WP 06-40335
Reeds are used in the construction of bush lodges in Northern Kwa- Zulu Natal, South Africa. Fungal, insect and ultra-violet damage to these reeds is posing a severe problem. Within a space of two years, the reeds are attacked and have to be subsequently replaced; a time consuming and costly exercise. A novel method has been used to successfully preserve these reeds with an environmentally friendl...
K Govender, K G Moodley


Service life prediction of wood: scale-dependent tools within a bio-engineering framework
2008 - IRG/WP 08-20387
Service life prediction (SLP) is a complex yet essential method for the building industry. Accurate and precise assessment of the components is crucial for a strong position of wood on the market. As it is a biological material, wood has an inherent variability and is susceptible to fungal attack. Therefore a profound knowledge of these characteristics is the corner stone of SLP for wood products....
J Van den Bulcke, J Van Acker, M Stevens


Genetic diversity and morphometric study of thirteen populations of Microcerotermes diversus (Silvestri)(Isoptera: Termitidae) in southern Iran
2012 - IRG/WP 12-10782
Microcerotermes diversus (Silvestri) (Isoptera: Termitidae), an important wood pest in Iran, causes serious economic damage to cellulosic products in buildings. To investigate the genetic diversity of this pest, 13 populations from different areas of Khuzestan province as well as two samples from Khârg Island and Bandar Abbas were collected. After DNA extraction, a fragment with 486 bp length fro...
E A Firouzabadi, B Habibpour, H Galehdari, P Shishehbor


Service life evaluation of wood - an engineering approach
2013 - IRG/WP 13-20515
A performance-based service life design format based on climatic exposure on one hand and “biological wood resistance” on the other hand is presented in this paper. Important concepts are the introduction of limit states as well as reliable performance models for the biological processes, by which onset of deterioration can be predicted for arbitrary climate histories. Examples of applications...
S Thelandersson


Is there a role for termite alates in colony expansion in Wisconsin?
2014 - IRG/WP 14-10820
Termite colonies in Wisconsin tend to be large and widely spread out geographically, and separated by distances up to 1342km. We recently completed a study to determine the genetic diversity and population substructure of thirteen existing colonies of Reticulitermes flavipes using amplified fragment length polymorphism to determine patterns of termite dispersal in Wisconsin. Measures of inbreedin...
F Green III, R A Arango, G R Esenther, T G Shelton


Engineering for Rural and Civil Development. Uni Performance of wood exterior structures above ground contact in Spain built with softwood species. The situation of cases in northern Spain
2016 - IRG/WP 16-20597
Across Europe is very common to find exterior structures build in sawn and glue-laminated wood. Most of these exterior structures used softwood wood species such as fir, spruce, larch and pine. In Spain wood exterior structures, as for example bridges, became more and more popular since eighties, when sawn and glue-laminated wood were utilized for building exterior wooden structures in overall Spa...
D Lorenzo, J Fernández-Golfín, M Touza


Genetic characterisation of the deathwatch beetle – Call for support
2017 - IRG/WP 17-10890
The deathwatch beetle (Xestobium rufovillosum) is one of the most important pests of historical wood constructions. Further analysis of the exact nature of the feeding habits regarding diet and wood characteristics might deliver answers for controlling this pest. Also there is little known about genetic variability and population structure within the species. For analysis of infested wood and also...
M Höpken, E Melcher, J Trautner


A Green and Novel Technology for Recovering Copper and Wood from Treated Wood Waste – Part II: Optimization, copper metal recovery, and process design
2017 - IRG/WP 17-50326
The US consumes 70 million pounds of copper and produces 580 million cubic feet treated wood annually. The EPA disallows burning and reusing treated wood waste due to health/environmental concerns. Vast quantities of copper and wood are landfilled. Two safe and low cost extraction systems, citric acid and ammonium citrate, were identified in Part I of this study. In Part II of the study, effects o...
S Chen, R Patel


Genetic relationships of local infestations by Anobium punctatum, Xestobium rufovillosum and their associated predator Korynetes caeruleus from buildings in North-Eastern Germany
2021 - IRG/WP 21-10982
Wood-destroying pests such as Anobium punctatum and Xestobium rufovillosum cause damage to art and cultural objects as well as to buildings. Monitoring population dynamics of pest species as well as of their naturally occurring counterparts are an essential part in the development of biological control measures as alternatives to conventional wood protection. Therefore, both the dispersal and homo...
C von Laar, C Baar, R Plarre, D P McMahon


The influence of climate changes on Central European forests with an emphasis on Slovenia
2022 - IRG/WP 22-50368
When forests are managed sustainably, they play an essential role in protecting climate and biodiversity. They protect soils and water resources, provide livelihoods, and contribute to the well-being of rural and urban communities. European forests are multifunctional and provide a range of ecosystem services. These include the production of renewable materials that can replace materials with a la...
J Gričar, L Krajnc, M Westergren, S Rus, H Kraigher