Improving the Service Life of Wood: Durability and Preservation

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Wood Science and Forest Products".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 November 2024 | Viewed by 990

Special Issue Editor

USDA-FS Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI 53726, USA
Interests: biodeterioration; wood durability; wood protection; treated wood disposal
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainability and carbon sequestration are at the forefront of scientific discussion due to increasing concerns over climate change. Wood utilization is key to ensuring a sustainable future as wood is renewable, abundant, and carbon neutral. In fact, wood sequesters carbon in trees and in manufactured materials, which extends the carbon benefit past the rotation age of the tree. Construction materials represent an important carbon sink, and the goal in the field of wood protection is to prolong the useful service life of these forest products through the use of chemical protectants, durability by design, wood modification or the use of the heartwood of naturally durable species. In North America, building codes typically require chemically treated wood when used in ground contact, when critical to the structure or when difficult to replace, which often results in disposal issues with treated wood waste. Strategies that can remediate treated building materials are still needed to ensure that chemically treated wood has a circular life trajectory. The goal of this Special Issue is to collate current research relating to wood protection strategies, end of life disposal, life cycle assessments and how these aspects contribute to the larger goals of sustainability and carbon sequestration.  

Dr. Grant Kirker
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • wood protection
  • wood durability
  • carbon sequestration
  • life cycle assessment
  • end-of-life disposal
  • sustainable forest management

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 2344 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Basidiomycete Fungal Communities in Soil and Wood from Contrasting Zones of the AWPA Biodeterioration Hazard Map across the United States
by Grant T. Kirker, Amy B. Bishell, Jed Cappellazzi, Samuel V. Glass, Jonathan A. Palmer, Nathan J. Bechle and William J. Hickey
Forests 2024, 15(2), 383; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15020383 - 18 Feb 2024
Viewed by 726
Abstract
Wood deterioration due to basidiomycetous decay fungi shortens the useful life span of wood and wood-based materials. Prescriptive preservative treatment is the most effective way to reduce the detrimental effects of these microorganisms, particularly in soil contact and areas of critical use (difficult [...] Read more.
Wood deterioration due to basidiomycetous decay fungi shortens the useful life span of wood and wood-based materials. Prescriptive preservative treatment is the most effective way to reduce the detrimental effects of these microorganisms, particularly in soil contact and areas of critical use (difficult to replace or vital to structure). Current American Wood Protection Association (AWPA) guidelines in the standardized use category system specify 3 zones of severity regarding wood decay fungal hazards but contain very little information on the diversity and abundance of these fungi colonizing soil and wood. In this study, amplicon based sequencing was utilized to compare fungal communities in wood and adjacent soil to provide baseline data on the fungi involved in the process. A thorough understanding of decay hazards is critical for the proper selection and use of wood in soil contact. The goal of this work is to provide baseline data on basidiomycete fungal diversity and species composition in different zones of the existing 3-zone AWPA hazard map as compared to the previous 5-zone hazard map and Scheffer decay indices and discuss the ecological implications for wood decay. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving the Service Life of Wood: Durability and Preservation)
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