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Airborne algae as a wood degradation factor
1992 - IRG/WP 92-1549
The occurrence of airborne (aerophytic) algae on wood is a very frequent phenomenon. However, there is currently a lack of information concerning their effect on the wood tissue. Some important genus of algae infesting wood under natural conditions are listed, as well as the results of experimental studies in the "in vitro" culture concerning the effect of two selected algal species on some physic...
K J Krajewski, J Wazny


Biodegradation of creosote/naphthalene-treated wood in the marine environment
1977 - IRG/WP 428
The present study was undertaken to determine the biodegradability of marine grade creosote and selected components, including naphtalene, and to determine the effectiveness of (up to 40%) creosote in protecting wood from microbial attack. Also, the impact(s) of creosote and naphtalene-enriched creosote on the microbial ecology os estuarine environments was examined....
P A Seesman, R R Colwell, A Zachary, A J Emery


Lignin degradation by wood-degrading fungi
1986 - IRG/WP 1310
The wood-degrading white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium, has been the subject of intensive research in recent years and, based upon isolation of the extracelluar enzyme ligninase, major advances have now been made toward elucidating the mechanism by which this fungus degrades lignin. From these developments, a model emerges which could explain the process by which wood-degrading fungi in g...
P J Harvey, H E Schoemaker, J M Palmer


Antifungal properties of new quaternary ammonium and imidazolium salts against wood decay, staining and mould fungi
2004 - IRG/WP 04-30347
The biological activity of twenty-four potential wood preservatives – imidazolium and quaternary ammonium salts with a modified anion structure was determined employing screening agar-plate and agar-block methods. Experiments were carried out on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) wood. The aim of the performed studies was to investigate the effect of structure modification of IC and QAC with organ...
J Zabielska-Matejuk, W Wieczorek


Biodegradation of acetylated southern pine and aspen composition boards
1994 - IRG/WP 94-40020
This objective of this study was to investigate the influence of the acetylation treated wood fiber, Phenol-formaldehyde resin content level, two wood fiber species, three fungi species on the dimensional stability and decay resistence of high density composition boards. A standard ASTM method was used to evaluate weight loss and thickness change. The linear shrinkage and expansion of each species...
P Chow, T Harp, R Meimban, J A Youngquist, R M Powell


The fungal degradation of quaternary ammonium compounds in wood
1998 - IRG/WP 98-10263
This work focuses on the biodegradation of didecyldimethylammonium chloride (DDAC) by the mould fungus Gliocladium roseum within a woody matrix. Three sawdust types, distinguished by their treatment and amount of DDAC retained, were inoculated with the fungus and their DDAC loss was measured over 11 weeks. The rates of degradation varied depending on the sawdust; however, a significant loss of DDA...
J W Dubois, J N R Ruddick


Biochemical relationships between biodegradation of cellulose and formation of oxalic acid in brown-rot wood decay
1991 - IRG/WP 1472
Non-enzymic hydrolysis of cellulose with low concentrations of oxalic acid was examined. The incubation of pine wood pulp with 1% oxalic acid (pH 1.3) at 35°C for 4 weeks reduced the original viscosity to 60%. Reducing sugars were liberated from various cellulosic samples by the oxalic acid treatment. However, crystallinities of cellulose in those samples did not change before and after the treat...
M Shimada, Y Akamatsu, A Ohta, M Takahashi


Biodegradation of wood in wet environments: A review
1997 - IRG/WP 97-10217
Wood in wet environments is attacked and degraded by soft rot fungi and erosion and tunnelling bacteria, which are more tolerant to high moisture and reduced oxygen conditions than basidiomycetes, such as white and brown rot fungi. Since basidiomycetes are normally more aggressive and can degrade wood faster than soft rot fungi and bacteria wood in wet environments can survive longer. In fact, arc...
A P Singh, Yoon Soo Kim


Isolation of soil borne bacteria and fungi from treated timber
2001 - IRG/WP 01-50174
Most research in the last few decades has focused on the development of new strategies to control biological attack and the means to quantify this. Comparatively little work has been done to examine the effect that treated timber might have on its surrounding environment. This presentation will describe a methodology that attempts to detect any changes which might occur in the soil microflora foll...
I Stephan, A Stegemann, G Heidrich


Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) of decayed wood
1998 - IRG/WP 98-10273
Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) is currently being used to examine biodegraded wood and is proving to be a useful new technique in this area of work. Non-invasive optical sectioning within a thick specimen (20 - 50 µm), coupled with post image processing techniques allows manipulation of images and 3-D reconstruction from serial sections. Glutaraldehyde can cause cell autofluorescence,...
Ying Xiao, R N Wakeling, A P Singh


Fungal siderophores and their rôle in wood biodegradation
1990 - IRG/WP 1442
Iron and other metals such as manganese, play an important role in the metabolic functions of fungi that cause wood deterioration. These transition metals are also found in, or associated with, the extracellular fungal enzymes shown to be directly involved in the decay process. Recently our research group was able to show that siderophores (low molecular weight biological chelators) are produced b...
J Jellison, B Goodell, F Fekete, V Chandhoke


Evidence for actinomycete degradation of wood cell walls
1990 - IRG/WP 1444
Several unique patterns of degradation occurring in wood cell walls have been observed in wooden stakes inserted in unsterile soil in the laboratory. Some of the patterns have also been observed in coniferous wood taken from forest floors. All the observed attack types occur within wood cell walls, mainly within the S2 layer. Attack is characterised by channels of varying diameter or small fusifor...
T Nilsson, G F Daniel, S L Bardage


The effects of preservative treatment and exposure to wood degrading fungi on fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) materials used for structural wood reinforcement
2001 - IRG/WP 01-40204
Glass fiber reinforced phenolic (GFRP) composite materials are becoming increasingly accepted for use in the construction industry because they combine advantages of both wood and advanced polymeric materials. Addition of only 1-3% FRP in the tension zone, for example, can typically improve the strength of the hybrid system by 200%. As more applications are found for wood/FRP hybrids, (e.g. lamina...
C Tascioglu, B Goodell


Development and Implementation of a DNA – RFLP Database for Wood Decay and Wood Associated Fungi
2004 - IRG/WP 04-10527
We are developing Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) and Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) sequence databases for wood decay basidiomycetes and other fungi associated with wood. These databases currently house information for 39 fungal species consisting of 9 brown-rot basidiomycetes, 12 white rot basidiomycetes, 1 soft rot, 1 stain fungi, and 16 molds or other ascomycetes or imperfe...
S V Diehl, T C McElroy, M L Prewitt


Screening of fungal strains for wood extractive degradation
1998 - IRG/WP 98-10254
Fungal strains were screened for their ability to degrade apolar extractives in wood from scots pine. The degradation of total wood extractives by 91 different strains was monitored in stationary batch assays incubated for 6 weeks. The results obtained show that the ability of wood-inhabiting fungi to utilize wood extractives varied greatly, even for different isolates of the same species. Fungal ...
J Dorado, M J Martinez-Inigo, T A van Beek, F W Claassen, J B P A Wijnberg, R Sierra-Alvarez


Inhibition of the biodegradation of coniferous and broadleaved wood by new imidazolium salts
2003 - IRG/WP 03-30320
Studies were carried out on fungicidal values of fourteen potential wood preservatives – modified quaternary heteroaromatic compounds using the screening agar-block. The vacuum treated blocks (22mm x 17mm x 12mm) of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), spruce (Picea excelsa L.), beech (Fagus silvatica L.) and birch (Betula verrucosa Ehrh.) with testing compounds were exposed to Coniophota puteana a...
J Zabielska-Matejuk, J Pernak, W Wieczorek


The characteristics of biodegradation mechanism of gamma-irradiated wood
2007 - IRG/WP 07-20352
Gamma radiation, as an easy, fast and effective sterilisation method, changes molecular structure in pest’s living cells, but also in wooden cell walls. Radiation-induced depolymerisation causes significant changes in wood properties crucial for laboratory testing of wood-preservative effectiveness. Natural durability of wood against rot fungi in lab conditions dependency on different sterilisat...
R Despot, M Hasan, F Pohleven, M Humar, G Rep


Chelator-Mediated Fenton Chemistry in Wood Degraded by Fungi
2007 - IRG/WP 07-10618
Wood specimens were colonized by individual isolates of brown rot, white rot, soft rot and blue (sap) stain fungi. Ethyl acetate extracts of the ground wood were analyzed for their iron-reducing capabilities using a ferrozine-based assay. Extracts from wood colonized by brown rot fungi showed a significantly greater iron-reducing capability than extracts from wood colonized by white rot fungi or n...
B Goodell, G Daniel, J Jellison, Yuhui Qian


The Current Situation Of Wood Poles Installed In Ilha Do Mel: A Wood Pole Biodegradation Diagnostic
2007 - IRG/WP 07-40373
Wood CCA and CCB poles installed in Ilha do Mel, an island of Parana State, Brazil, are failed earlier than expected: just five years after being installed many poles need to be replaced with financial implications for the State Energy Company – COPEL. In an effort to answer what causes this failure, this work shows the deterioration diagnostic of Ilha do Mel’s poles. In fact, such poles have...
C C Borges, J C Moreschi


Wood boring species present in the Tagus Estuary and the severity of their attack on wooden piles exposed in the area: a case study
2008 - IRG/WP 08-10664
Wood exposed in the marine environment is subject to degradation by wood boring organisms. This is probably one of the reasons why wood has been substituted by concrete and steel in maritime structures in many European coastal areas. Wooden piles obtained from a wharf exposed in the Tagus Estuary, Porto Brandão (Almada, Portugal) provided an opportunity to understand the main agents of biodeter...
L M S Borges, L Nunes, A A Valente, P Palma


Fungal biodegradation of CCA-treated wood wastes
2011 - IRG/WP 10-50276
Fungal biodegradation could be employed as a pretreatment method to alleviate problems caused by landfill disposal of CCA-treated wood wastes (e.g. a shortage of landfill space and a release of leacheate). It could be used to decrease the volume of waste and to remove metals from waste simultaneously. We have screened hundreds of decay fungi, including fungi isolated from CCA-treated wood in servi...
Gyu-Hyeok Kim, Yong-Seok Choi, Jae-Jin Kim


Decrease of stiffness properties of degraded wood predicted by means of micromechanical modeling
2011 - IRG/WP 11-40570
Wood exhibits a highly anisotropic mechanical behavior due to its heterogeneous microscopic structure and composition. Its microstructure is organized in a strictly hierarchical manner from a length scale of some nanometers, where the elementary constituents cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin, and extractives are found, up to a length scale of some millimeters, where growth rings composed of earlyw...
T K Bader, K Hofstetter, G Alfredsen, S Bollmus


What molecular biology can tell us about the biodegradation of lignocellulose: the utilization of molecular techniques for the detection, identification and enhanced understanding of wood degrading organisms
2013 - IRG/WP 13-20528
Molecular techniques are now routinely used in the identification, detection and analysis of wood degrading organisms. An overview of some of the early work on nucleic acid isolation and characterization will be followed by a discussion of the power of sequencing and other procedures for better understanding: the mechanisms involved in the biological degradation of wood, the metabolic basis of pre...
J Jellison, B Goodell, G Alfredsen, D Eastwood, G Daniel, S M Cragg, J K Grace


Evaluating the Effects of Post Dip-Treatment Laser Marking on Resistance to Feeding by Subterranean Termites
2016 - IRG/WP 16-10854
Dip-treatment of wood packing materials is often used instead of pressure treatment mainly because of issues relating to simplicity and cost. Packaging boxes fabricated for the United States Army are required to be dip-treated for at least one minute in an approved preservative solution prior to use. These boxes are expected to have a service life of up to 20 years in a wide variety of environment...
R A Arango, B Woodward, S Lebow


Exploration of waterlogged piles and wooden constructions of Riga Dome Cathedral
2017 - IRG/WP 17-10901
The Riga Dome Cathedral’s waterlogged wood piles and the roofs and tower's wooden structures were investigated, the extent of biological damage was evaluated, and the wood rot fungi and insects were identified. The pile wood’s component composition and elemental composition were analysed; the wood structure damage by erosion bacteria was microscopically determined. In the roofs and tower ...
B Andersons, I Andersone, I Irbe, V Fridrihsone, R Lūsis


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