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Wood Anatomy and Evaluation of Wood Structures and Their Modifications
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Wood Anatomy and Evaluation of Wood Structures and Their Modifications

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 July 2023) | Viewed by 12111

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Angela Balzano

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Guest Editor
Department of Wood Science and Technology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva ulica 101, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Interests: wood and phloem formation; intra-annual density fluctuation; functional wood traits; quantitative wood anatomy; drought response; mediterranean ecosystems; scanning electron microscopy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Maks Merela

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Wood Science and Technology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Interests: wood anatomy; properties; wood use; archaeological wood; cultural heritage; rare species; invasive species; innovative products; wood products
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Veronica De Micco

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Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Via Università, 100, Portici, 80055 Naples, Italy
Interests: functional anatomical traits; plant hydraulics; quantitative wood anatomy; dendro-sciences; xylogenesis; intra-annual density fluctuations; plant morpho-functional adaptation in natural environments and in crop production; plant adaptation to extreme environments
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Wood is a remarkably complex and fascinating biological structure and natural lignocellulosic polymer. Xylem provides water conductive function, and structural support to the tree, and serves in the storage of nutrients. Xylem is built by different cell types and structures, which not only evolved over hundreds of millions of years to accomplish their function, but they undergo a continuous and rapid adaptation during their lifetime. Analysis of wood cells and structures can provide valuable information about a tree: the tree species, its eco-physiological response, the stage of development, the co-occurring environmental conditions during growth, and the events that occurred during its life and its quality. Although the general features of the xylem are species-specific, many quantitative traits are modified by the growth environment (such as extreme events: frost, drought, flooding, lack of light, and pests). These modifications appear as anomalies in the xylem and in tree rings such as false-, frost-, light-, and blue-rings, etc.

Mechanical stress (such as wind, snow, ice storms, mechanical injuries, and pruning) can also lead to the formation of atypical wood structures, such as reaction wood, wound wood, scar tissue, callus, necrotic tissue, etc. Wood anatomy and atypical wood structures can serve as markers to reconstruct events in time, and they can provide important information about the adaptive response to functional and ecological variations and the recovery ability of a tree. Moreover, understanding xylem structures and responses may be useful in predicting functional trends and climate change impacts on woody plants. This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of the latest knowledge on xylem anatomy evaluation and codification of xylem structures linked with their functional and ecological rule

Dr. Angela Balzano
Dr. Maks Merela
Prof. Dr. Veronica De Micco
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • wood anatomy
  • false rings
  • frost rings
  • functional anatomical traits
  • quantitative wood anatomy
  • juvenile wood
  • reaction wood
  • vessels inclusions
  • wound wood
  • scar tissue
  • compartmentalization

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 5039 KiB  
Article
Performance Influencing Factors of Convolutional Neural Network Models for Classifying Certain Softwood Species
by Jong-Ho Kim, Byantara Darsan Purusatama, Alvin Muhammad Savero, Denni Prasetia, Go-Un Yang, Song-Yi Han, Seung-Hwan Lee and Nam-Hun Kim
Forests 2023, 14(6), 1249; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14061249 - 15 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1081
Abstract
This study aims to verify the wood classification performance of convolutional neural networks (CNNs), such as VGG16, ResNet50, GoogLeNet, and basic CNN architectures, and to investigate the factors affecting classification performance. A dataset from 10 softwood species consisted of 200 cross-sectional micrographs each [...] Read more.
This study aims to verify the wood classification performance of convolutional neural networks (CNNs), such as VGG16, ResNet50, GoogLeNet, and basic CNN architectures, and to investigate the factors affecting classification performance. A dataset from 10 softwood species consisted of 200 cross-sectional micrographs each from the total part, earlywood, and latewood of each species. We used 80% and 20% of each dataset for training and testing, respectively. To improve the performance of the architectures, the dataset was augmented, and the differences in classification performance before and after augmentation were compared. The four architectures showed a high classification accuracy of over 90% between species, and the accuracy increased with increasing epochs. However, the starting points of the accuracy, loss, and training speed increments differed according to the architecture. The latewood dataset showed the highest accuracy. The epochs and augmented datasets also positively affected accuracy, whereas the total part and non-augmented datasets had a negative effect on accuracy. Additionally, the augmented dataset tended to derive stable results and reached a convergence point earlier. In the present study, an augmented latewood dataset was the most important factor affecting classification performance and should be used for training CNNs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Anatomy and Evaluation of Wood Structures and Their Modifications)
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14 pages, 1628 KiB  
Article
The Variations in Tracheid Length of Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco Wood in Relation to Cambium Age, Site, and Growth
by Iva Ištok, Tomislav Sedlar, Gordana Orešković and Branimir Jambreković
Forests 2023, 14(6), 1165; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14061165 - 05 Jun 2023
Viewed by 906
Abstract
This study investigated the variations in tracheid length of Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco from three sites in Croatia in relation to cambium age, within- and between-site differences, and growth rate. Tracheids are the main structural element in P. menziesii wood, varying in length [...] Read more.
This study investigated the variations in tracheid length of Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco from three sites in Croatia in relation to cambium age, within- and between-site differences, and growth rate. Tracheids are the main structural element in P. menziesii wood, varying in length following different patterns that should be precisely determined. After the maceration procedure, earlywood tracheid length (EWTL), latewood tracheid length (LWTL), annual growth ring tracheid length (RTL), earlywood ring width (EWW), latewood ring width (LWW), and annual ring width (ARW) were measured in selected annual growth rings. The significant effect of annual growth rings and zone interaction for EWTL and LWTL, as well as of annual growth rings, trees, and sites for RTL, was determined. The results conclude on the differences between the trends in EWTL and LWTL from pith toward the bark. In addition, the correlation analysis between the tracheid length and different growth patterns was investigated, and very weak or no association between the variables was detected. This research contributes to better understanding the degree of wood uniformity of P. menziesii from the technological perspective, as well as the variability factor in the optimization of forest management with favoring overall wood quality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Anatomy and Evaluation of Wood Structures and Their Modifications)
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16 pages, 6584 KiB  
Article
Structural Variation Patterns in Xylem Vessels and Parenchyma Cells and Their Association with Tree Evolution
by Linghui He, Yunlin Fu, Zhigao Liu and Penglian Wei
Forests 2023, 14(5), 950; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14050950 - 04 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1728
Abstract
Xylem vessels and parenchyma cells perform functions such as water transport and nutrient storage in trees. However, they are highly variable in different trees. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the structural change patterns in vessels and parenchyma cells in the sapwood, transition [...] Read more.
Xylem vessels and parenchyma cells perform functions such as water transport and nutrient storage in trees. However, they are highly variable in different trees. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the structural change patterns in vessels and parenchyma cells in the sapwood, transition wood, and heartwood of tree species with different degrees of evolution. The structural characteristics of the two types of cells in the sapwood, transitional wood, and heartwood were measured in six species with different levels of evolution, namely, Michelia macclurei Dandy, Cinnamomum camphora (L.) presl, Erythrophleum fordii Oliv, Melaleuca leucadendron L., Parashorea chinensis Wang Hsie and Tectona grandis L.F. The results showed that the more evolved species had larger earlywood vessel lumen diameters, thicker walls, and wider hydraulic diameters, as well as smaller latewood vessel densities, reflecting better water transport effectiveness and higher safety. From the sapwood to the transition wood and heartwood, the earlywood vessel lumen diameter of the more primitive species tended to be stable and then decrease, while that of the more evolved species gradually decreased. The latewood vessel density of the more primitive species tended to be stable and then increase, while that of the more evolved species tended to be stable. Additionally, the starch grains of the more primitive species were mainly distributed in the axial or ray parenchyma cells of the sapwood, while those of the more evolved species were abundantly distributed in the axial and ray parenchyma cells of the sapwood, and the distribution of the starch grains was reduced in the transition wood and heartwood. From the sapwood to the heartwood, the ray parenchyma cell fraction tended to be stable in the more primitive species, and tended to be stable before decreasing in the more evolved species. The pit density in the horizontal wall of the ray parenchyma cells tended to be stable and decrease in the more primitive species, while in the more evolved species it tended to be stable or decrease before stabilizing. Overall, trees’ vessels have gradually undergone the optimal selection of vessels during evolution, and the structural variation in the parenchyma cells contributes to their nutrient storage and transport. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Anatomy and Evaluation of Wood Structures and Their Modifications)
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13 pages, 15745 KiB  
Article
The Role of Organ and Leaf Habit on the Secondary Xylem Anatomy Variation across 15 Species from Brazilian Cerrado
by Rafaella Dutra, Anselmo Nogueira, Sergio Rossi, Larissa Chacon Dória, Valentina Buttò and Carmen Regina Marcati
Forests 2023, 14(2), 269; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14020269 - 31 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1501
Abstract
Xylem is a complex tissue connecting the organs of plants and it performs multiple functions, including water transport, mechanical support, and storage. Because of the interaction between structure and function, xylem anatomy can provide useful information about its role in plant strategies. However, [...] Read more.
Xylem is a complex tissue connecting the organs of plants and it performs multiple functions, including water transport, mechanical support, and storage. Because of the interaction between structure and function, xylem anatomy can provide useful information about its role in plant strategies. However, knowledge of how xylem anatomical traits change across organs and species functional groups is still limited. Here, we tested the role of different plant organs (stem and roots) and leaf habits (deciduous, semi-deciduous, and evergreen) on xylem anatomy variation across 15 woody species from the Brazilian Cerrado. Vessels, fibers, and parenchyma traits were measured on 45 individuals sampled in 2014 in Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil. Our results revealed a higher parenchyma fraction and less fiber fraction in roots than in stems across species. Differences in wood anatomical traits between organs were mainly species-specific in parenchyma traits rather than vessel and fiber traits. Across leaf habits, only the root ray fraction was higher in evergreen species compared to deciduous species. These findings highlight a potential role of organs and leaf habits in xylem storage across Cerrado woody species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Anatomy and Evaluation of Wood Structures and Their Modifications)
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14 pages, 11162 KiB  
Article
Response of Tracheid Structure Characteristics and Lignin Distribution of Taxodium Hybrid Zhongshanshan to External Stress
by Lu Yong, Yujin Bi, Jiangtao Shi, Xinzhou Wang and Biao Pan
Forests 2022, 13(11), 1792; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13111792 - 28 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1462
Abstract
The Taxodium hybrid Zhongshanshan fast-growing species is susceptible to environment and gravity to form reaction wood. In this study, individual growth rings of reaction wood are used as subjects, and an individual growth ring is divided into three zones: compression zone (CZ), lateral [...] Read more.
The Taxodium hybrid Zhongshanshan fast-growing species is susceptible to environment and gravity to form reaction wood. In this study, individual growth rings of reaction wood are used as subjects, and an individual growth ring is divided into three zones: compression zone (CZ), lateral zone (LZ), and opposite zone (OZ). The microanatomical structure and chemical properties of the tracheids in CZ, LZ, and OZ forms by the inclined or bent growth of T. Zhongshanshan are comparatively analyzed by using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope, laser confocal microscopy, and Raman imaging techniques. In CZ, the length and diameter of compression wood (CW) tracheids decreased, and the shape of cross-sections became rounded as compared to the OZ and LZ tracheids. More notably, threaded fissures appeared on the cell wall of tracheids, and the thickness of the cell wall increased in CW. The analysis of tracheids’ cell wall structure showed that CW tracheids had a complete outer secondary wall middle (S2L) layer, but had no secondary wall inner (S3) layer. In the transition zone (TA) between CW and normal early wood, tracheids were divided into compressed and normal tracheids. Despite the compressed tracheids having a similar cell morphology to normal tracheids, they had a thin secondary wall S2L layer. Tracheids in LZ had a thin S2L layer only at the angle of the cell. No S2L layer was seen in the cell wall of OZ and CZ late wood tracheids. It can be concluded that the response of lignin deposition location to external stress was faster than the change in cell morphology. The above results help provide the theoretical basis for the response mechanism of T. Zhongshanshan reaction wood anatomical structures to the external environment and has important theoretical value for understanding its characteristics and its rational and efficient usage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Anatomy and Evaluation of Wood Structures and Their Modifications)
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11 pages, 4610 KiB  
Article
A Comparative Study on the Anatomical Characteristics of Acacia mangium and Acacia hybrid Grown in Vietnam
by Alvin Muhammad Savero, Jong-Ho Kim, Byantara Darsan Purusatama, Denni Prasetia, Se-Hwi Park and Nam-Hun Kim
Forests 2022, 13(10), 1700; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13101700 - 16 Oct 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2048
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate and compare the qualitative and quantitative anatomical characteristics of Acacia mangium and Acacia hybrid in plantation forests in Vietnam. The qualitative and quantitative anatomical characteristics were evaluated according to the International Association of Wood Anatomists list of microscopic [...] Read more.
This study aimed to investigate and compare the qualitative and quantitative anatomical characteristics of Acacia mangium and Acacia hybrid in plantation forests in Vietnam. The qualitative and quantitative anatomical characteristics were evaluated according to the International Association of Wood Anatomists list of microscopic features for hardwood identification. In terms of qualitative features, A. mangium had a rough, hard, and fissured bark surface with a golden brown to dark brown color, whereas A. hybrid had a smooth and slightly scaly bark surface with greenish brown to greyish brown color, and yellowish white to pale white spots. Moreover, the heartwood–sapwood color and microscopic features of both species were identical. In terms of quantitative features, A. mangium had higher values in the tangential diameter of vessel lumina, vessel per square millimeter, ray number per millimeter, fiber length, and fiber wall thickness than A. hybrid, whereas A. hybrid had a higher ray height and lumen diameter than A. mangium. Thus, it is suggested that bark morphology and some quantitative anatomical characteristics can be used for identification and evaluation of wood quality between A. mangium and A. hybrid growing in Vietnam. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Anatomy and Evaluation of Wood Structures and Their Modifications)
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18 pages, 4847 KiB  
Article
An Improved Wood Recognition Method Based on the One-Class Algorithm
by Jie He, Yongke Sun, Chunjiang Yu, Yong Cao, Youjie Zhao and Guanben Du
Forests 2022, 13(9), 1350; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13091350 - 25 Aug 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1646
Abstract
Wood recognition is necessary for work in the wood trade activities. The advantage of the one-class wood classification method is more generalization, and it only needs positive samples and does not need negative samples in the training phase, so it is suitable for [...] Read more.
Wood recognition is necessary for work in the wood trade activities. The advantage of the one-class wood classification method is more generalization, and it only needs positive samples and does not need negative samples in the training phase, so it is suitable for rare wood species inspection. This paper proposed an improved method based on the one-class support vector machine (OCSVM) for wood species recognition. It uses cross-section images acquired with a magnifying glass, which uses a pre-trained VGG16 model for feature extraction, a normal distribution test for key features filtering, and OCSVM to determine the wood species. The results showed that the approach achieved a mean recall of 0.842 for both positive and negative samples, which indicates this method has good performance for wood recognition. In a negative public dataset, the negative recall reached as high as 0.989, which showed that this method has good generalization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Anatomy and Evaluation of Wood Structures and Their Modifications)
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