Wood Production and Promotion

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 (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 36438

Special Issue Editors

CNR IBE, Institute of Bioeconomy, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
Interests: wood science; wood-based products; mechanical testing; physical testing; wood properties; wood quality; visual and machine timber grading; diagnosis of timber structures; model forest network
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
CNR IBE, Institute of Bioeconomy, Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy
Interests: wood science; wood-based products
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Forest Products Technology and Timber Costruction, University of Applied Sciences Salzburg, Kuchl, Austria
Interests: engineering design; biogenic materials; material characterization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As is well known, the use of wood has countless benefits from an environmental, but also technical and economic point of view. Wood was the material of the past but now, according to many, it is being defined as the material of the future thanks to both a renewed environmental awareness and to the technological and scientific advances that allow for an increasingly rational and sustainable use.

In order to make forward progress in the direction towards the increased use of wood, it is necessary, now more than ever, to expand and share knowledge of this material, from the characterization of the raw resource, to the promotion of its more efficient use, to technical and scientific innovations aimed at developing new wood-based products with greater added value and fewer environmental impacts.

Promoting wood also means promoting its sustainable production and consumption. The use of wood requires sources that provide an adequate supply, which must be managed in order for the environmental, social, and economic functions of forests to be fulfilled.

The purpose of this Special Issue is, therefore, to stimulate the submission of innovative contributions able to disseminate knowledge about the production, processing, and final uses of wood materials, whether they are in construction (structural or non-structural), furniture and other environmentally-friendly products, etc., which can be used to guide the future choices of industry and society towards a more sustainable economy.

Dr. Michele Brunetti
Dr. Michela Nocetti
Prof. Dr. Alexander Petutschnigg
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • wood properties
  • wood-based products
  • supply chain
  • wood processing
  • innovative timber uses
  • wood treatment
  • wood promotion strategies
  • timber design

Published Papers (15 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 4792 KiB  
Article
From Visual Grading and Dynamic Modulus of European Beech (Fagus sylvatica) Logs to Tensile Strength of Boards
by Mitja Plos, Barbara Fortuna, Tamara Šuligoj and Goran Turk
Forests 2022, 13(1), 77; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13010077 - 06 Jan 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1381
Abstract
The aim of the present paper is to assess the non-destructive indicating properties of Slovenian beech (Fagus sylvatica) logs and correlate them with the mechanical properties of the final product, which is boards. Beech logs were visually graded according to the [...] Read more.
The aim of the present paper is to assess the non-destructive indicating properties of Slovenian beech (Fagus sylvatica) logs and correlate them with the mechanical properties of the final product, which is boards. Beech logs were visually graded according to the standard procedure and vibrational frequencies were measured. Logs were further on sawn into boards which were also non-destructively tested in wet and dry conditions. Finally, the boards were experimentally tested in tension. Special focus was directed towards visual parameters of the beech logs and their influence on the overall quality of the output material. The longitudinal natural frequencies of the logs were studied as potential indicating properties. The results showed that a majority of the visual log grading parameters do not result in good quality timber in terms of strength and stiffness properties, and only few are decisive for the final classification. The coefficient of determination of the static MOE vs. dynamic MOE of logs was r2=0.13, whereas vs. the MOE of wet boards was r2=0.49. Using a few visual characteristics in combination with dynamic measurements of logs and of wet boards could help to increase the yield of high quality beech wood. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Production and Promotion)
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12 pages, 2435 KiB  
Article
Defect Removal and Rearrangement of Wood Board Based on Genetic Algorithm
by Yutu Yang, Zilong Zhuang and Yabin Yu
Forests 2022, 13(1), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13010026 - 25 Dec 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2156
Abstract
Defects on a solid wood board have a great influence on the aesthetics and mechanical properties of the board. After removing the defects, the board is no longer the standard size; manual drawing lines and cutting procedure is time-consuming and laborious; and an [...] Read more.
Defects on a solid wood board have a great influence on the aesthetics and mechanical properties of the board. After removing the defects, the board is no longer the standard size; manual drawing lines and cutting procedure is time-consuming and laborious; and an optimal solution is not necessarily obtained. Intelligent cutting of the board can be realized using a genetic algorithm. However, the global optimal solution of the whole machining process cannot be obtained by separately considering the sawing and splicing of raw materials. The integrated consideration of wood board cutting and board splicing can improve the utilization rate of the solid wood board. The effective utilization rate of the board with isolated consideration of raw material sawing with standardized dimensions of wood pieces and board splicing is 79.1%, while the shortcut splicing optimization with non-standardized dimensions for the final board has a utilization rate of 88.6% (which improves the utilization rate by 9.5%). In large-scale planning, the use of shortcut splicing optimization also increased the utilization rate by 12.14%. This has certain guiding significance for actual production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Production and Promotion)
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12 pages, 1374 KiB  
Article
Mixed Visual and Machine Grading to Select Eucalyptus grandis Poles into High-Strength Classes
by Michele Brunetti, Giovanni Aminti, C. Brand Wessels and Michela Nocetti
Forests 2021, 12(12), 1804; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12121804 - 18 Dec 2021
Viewed by 1749
Abstract
Before round timber can be profitably used in construction, it needs structural characterization. The visual grading of Eucalyptus grandis poles was integrated with additional parameters developed by multivariate regression analysis. Acoustic velocity and dynamic modulus of elasticity were combined with density and pole [...] Read more.
Before round timber can be profitably used in construction, it needs structural characterization. The visual grading of Eucalyptus grandis poles was integrated with additional parameters developed by multivariate regression analysis. Acoustic velocity and dynamic modulus of elasticity were combined with density and pole diameter in the estimation of bending strength and stiffness. The best models achieved were used to group the visually graded material into qualitative structural classes. Overall, dynamic modulus of elasticity was the best single predictor; and adding density and diameter to the model improved the estimation of strength but not of stiffness. The developed parameters separated the material into two classes with very distinct mechanical properties. The models including velocity as a parameter did not perform as well. The strength grading of Eucalyptus grandis poles can be effectively improved by combining visual parameters and nondestructive measurements. The determination of the dynamic modulus of elasticity as a grading parameter should be preferred over that of acoustic velocity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Production and Promotion)
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14 pages, 1755 KiB  
Article
Wood Density and Ring Width in Quercus rotundifolia Trees in Southern Portugal
by Vicelina Sousa, Maria Emília Silva, José Luís Louzada and Helena Pereira
Forests 2021, 12(11), 1499; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12111499 - 29 Oct 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1796
Abstract
Quercus rotundifolia Lam., known as holm oak or evergreen oak, occurs naturally in the western Mediterranean region, mainly as part of the agroforestry or agrosilvopastoral systems in Portugal (“montado”) and Spain (“dehesa”), and is economically important for acorn production. Less attention has been [...] Read more.
Quercus rotundifolia Lam., known as holm oak or evergreen oak, occurs naturally in the western Mediterranean region, mainly as part of the agroforestry or agrosilvopastoral systems in Portugal (“montado”) and Spain (“dehesa”), and is economically important for acorn production. Less attention has been given to Q. rotundifolia wood, and its density variability is not known, namely related to tree growth. The wood density of 20 Q. rotundifolia trees was measured along the radial direction by X-ray densitometry and the factors responsible for ring width and wood density variation within and between trees were investigated at two sites located within the main species region in southern Portugal. Ring width was significantly different between sites, with an average of 1.81 mm and 1.55 mm. Wood density was very high and averaged between 888 kg/m3 and 914 kg/m3 but not significantly different between sites. Ring width and wood density showed a positive and significant correlation at both sites. Cambial age was the main source of variation for ring width and wood density, while between-tree effects accounted for a considerable proportion of wood density variation. The results are an important contribution for the species valorisation aiming at high-value wood products, also adding knowledge on the species growth of interest for tree selection and sustainable management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Production and Promotion)
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11 pages, 4438 KiB  
Article
Surface Detection of Solid Wood Defects Based on SSD Improved with ResNet
by Yutu Yang, Honghong Wang, Dong Jiang and Zhongkang Hu
Forests 2021, 12(10), 1419; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12101419 - 18 Oct 2021
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 2848
Abstract
Due to the lack of forest resources in China and the low detection efficiency of wood surface defects, the output of solid wood panels is not high. Therefore, this paper proposes a method for detecting surface defects of solid wood panels based on [...] Read more.
Due to the lack of forest resources in China and the low detection efficiency of wood surface defects, the output of solid wood panels is not high. Therefore, this paper proposes a method for detecting surface defects of solid wood panels based on a Single Shot MultiBox Detector algorithm (SSD) to detect typical wood surface defects. The wood panel images are acquired by an independently designed image acquisition system. The SSD model included the first five layers of the VGG16 network, the SSD feature mapping layer, the feature detection layer, and the Non-Maximum Suppression (NMS) module. We used TensorFlow to train the network and further improved it on the basis of the SSD network structure. As the basic network part of the improved SSD model, the deep residual network (ResNet) replaced the VGG network part of the original SSD network to optimize the input features of the regression and classification tasks of the predicted bounding box. The solid wood panels selected in this paper are Chinese fir and pine. The defects include live knots, dead knots, decay, mildew, cracks, and pinholes. A total of more than 5000 samples were collected, and the data set was expanded to 100,000 through data enhancement methods. After using the improved SSD model, the average detection accuracy of the defects we obtained was 89.7%, and the average detection time was 90 ms. Both the detection accuracy and the detection speed were improved. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Production and Promotion)
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18 pages, 6028 KiB  
Article
Color Classification and Texture Recognition System of Solid Wood Panels
by Zhengguang Wang, Zilong Zhuang, Ying Liu, Fenglong Ding and Min Tang
Forests 2021, 12(9), 1154; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12091154 - 26 Aug 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3554
Abstract
Solid wood panels are widely used in the wood flooring and furniture industries, and paneling is an excellent material for indoor decoration. The classification of colors helps to improve the appearance of wood products assembled from multiple panels due to the differences in [...] Read more.
Solid wood panels are widely used in the wood flooring and furniture industries, and paneling is an excellent material for indoor decoration. The classification of colors helps to improve the appearance of wood products assembled from multiple panels due to the differences in surface colors of solid wood panels. Traditional wood surface color classification mainly depends on workers’ visual observations, and manual color classification is prone to visual fatigue and quality instability. In order to reduce labor costs of sorting and to improve production efficiency, in this study, we introduced machine vision technology and an unsupervised learning technique. First-order color moments, second-order color moments, and color histogram peaks were selected to extract feature vectors and to realize data dimension reduction. The feature vector set was divided into different clusters by the K-means algorithm to achieve color classification and, thus, the solid wood panels with similar surface color were classified into one category. Furthermore, during twice clustering based on second-order color moment, texture recognition was realized on the basis of color classification. A sample of beech wood was selected as the research object, not only was color classification completed, but texture recognition was also realized. The experimental results verified the effectiveness of the technical proposal. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Production and Promotion)
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18 pages, 4891 KiB  
Article
Correlation between Anatomical Grading and Acoustic–Elastic Properties of Resonant Spruce Wood Used for Musical Instruments
by Florin Dinulică, Mariana Domnica Stanciu and Adriana Savin
Forests 2021, 12(8), 1122; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12081122 - 22 Aug 2021
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3268
Abstract
This paper deals with the acoustic and elastic properties of resonant wood, classified into four classes, according to the classification of wood quality by the manufacturers of musical instruments. Traditionally, the quality grades of resonant wood are determined on the basis of the [...] Read more.
This paper deals with the acoustic and elastic properties of resonant wood, classified into four classes, according to the classification of wood quality by the manufacturers of musical instruments. Traditionally, the quality grades of resonant wood are determined on the basis of the visual inspections of the macroscopic characteristics of the wood (annual ring width, regularity, proportion of early and late wood, absence of defects, etc.). Therefore, in this research, we studied whether there are correlations between the acoustic and elastic properties and the anatomical characteristics of wood used for the construction of violins. The results regarding the identification of the anatomical properties of resonant spruce, the wood color, and the acoustic/elastic properties, determined by ultrasonic measurements, were statistically analyzed to highlight the connection between the determined properties. From the statistical analysis, it can be seen that the only variables with the power to separate the quality classes are (in descending order of importance) the speed of sound propagation in the radial direction, Poisson’s ratio in the longitudinal–radial direction, and the speed of propagation of sounds in the longitudinal direction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Production and Promotion)
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15 pages, 2550 KiB  
Article
Granulometric Characterization of Wood Dust Emission from CNC Machining of Natural Wood and Medium Density Fiberboard
by Richard Kminiak, Martin Kučerka, Lubos Kristak, Roman Reh, Petar Antov, Alena Očkajová, Tomasz Rogoziński and Marta Pędzik
Forests 2021, 12(8), 1039; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12081039 - 05 Aug 2021
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2471
Abstract
The aim of this paper was to determine the particle size composition of wood dust emission from CNC milling of natural wood and medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and evaluate the associated occupational exposure risks. The paper is focused on some of the most commonly [...] Read more.
The aim of this paper was to determine the particle size composition of wood dust emission from CNC milling of natural wood and medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and evaluate the associated occupational exposure risks. The paper is focused on some of the most commonly used materials in the woodworking and furniture industry, i.e., solid wood (beech, oak, and spruce) and composite materials (MDF panels). In addition to the influence of the machined material, the effect of the technical-technological parameters, namely, feed speed and depth of cut on the particle size distribution, was also investigated. The selected values of the technical-technological parameters used in this study followed the common work practice in small wood processing companies. The particle size distribution was evaluated by using sieve analysis of samples from the total mass of collected wood dust. The results demonstrated that machining of natural wood is characterized mostly by the formation of coarse dust fractions (2 mm–1 mm sieves), whilst the processing of MDF was associated with generation of fine dust fractions with a size below 100 μm. The results obtained can be used for optimizing the technological programs of CNC milling machines, thus, reducing the occupational exposure to harmful wood dust emissions in the wood-processing industry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Production and Promotion)
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15 pages, 4582 KiB  
Article
Surface Hydrophobization of Block-Shaped Wood with Rapid Benzylation
by Mitsuru Abe, Masako Seki, Tsunehisa Miki and Masakazu Nishida
Forests 2021, 12(8), 1028; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12081028 - 03 Aug 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1435
Abstract
With the aim of utilizing wood as a carbon cycle-oriented material, the improvement of hydrophobicity has been actively studied to solve manufacturing problems, such as dimensional stability and biodeterioration resistance. The introduction of benzyl group is a promising chemical modification for hydrophobizing wood. [...] Read more.
With the aim of utilizing wood as a carbon cycle-oriented material, the improvement of hydrophobicity has been actively studied to solve manufacturing problems, such as dimensional stability and biodeterioration resistance. The introduction of benzyl group is a promising chemical modification for hydrophobizing wood. However, conventional benzylation methods are not suitable for industrial applications because they require high temperature and long reaction times. In this study, a novel method was developed for quickly benzylating the surface of block-shaped wood using an aqueous solution of tetra-n-butylphosphonium hydroxide as a pretreatment solvent and no heat. The color and shape of the benzylated wood was almost unchanged from that before the treatment. Analysis of the resulting chemical structure suggested that the developed method causes less damage to carbohydrates compared with the conventional method, which involves heating and stirring. The proposed method successfully imparted hydrophobicity and thermoplasticity to the benzylated wood surface. Furthermore, hydrophobicity of the benzylated wood was further improved by a simple heat treatment for only approximately 5 min. The water contact angle became ≥110° and remained almost unchanged even after 1 min after water dropping. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Production and Promotion)
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19 pages, 4229 KiB  
Article
Professionals’ Feedback on the PEFC Fair Supply Chain Project Activated in Italy after the “Vaia” Windstorm
by Francesco Negro, Omar Espinoza, Antonio Brunori, Corrado Cremonini and Roberto Zanuttini
Forests 2021, 12(7), 946; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12070946 - 17 Jul 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1738
Abstract
In the fall of 2018, the “Vaia” windstorm grounded around 8.5 million m3 of timber in northeastern Italy. Soon after, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) Italy activated a project called “fair supply chain” to promote the purchase of [...] Read more.
In the fall of 2018, the “Vaia” windstorm grounded around 8.5 million m3 of timber in northeastern Italy. Soon after, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) Italy activated a project called “fair supply chain” to promote the purchase of timber from the damaged areas at a reasonable price. The initiative was addressed at forest owners, forest and processing enterprises, retailers, and supporting organizations. This study reports the results of a survey performed to assess the effectiveness of the project two years after its launch. The survey, in the form of a questionnaire submitted to all adhering organizations, investigated different aspects such as motivations for adherence to the project, satisfaction with the project, sale of the labeled material, and promotion of the specific label. The results provide a detailed outline of the above aspects. Through the various findings, the project is perceived as effective in supporting the region, enhancing an organizations’ image, and limiting price fall. Yet, further efforts should be aimed at increasing networking and business opportunities. Some recommendations are also offered for similar projects in the future, as forest disturbances are increasing worldwide in frequency and intensity due to climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Production and Promotion)
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14 pages, 10131 KiB  
Article
Acoustic Properties of Larch Bark Panels
by Eugenia Mariana Tudor, Lubos Kristak, Marius Catalin Barbu, Tomáš Gergeľ, Miroslav Němec, Günther Kain and Roman Réh
Forests 2021, 12(7), 887; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12070887 - 07 Jul 2021
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2705
Abstract
The potential of tree bark, a by-product of the woodworking industry, has been studied for more than seven decades. Bark, as a sustainable raw material, can replace wood or other resources in numerous applications in construction. In this study, the acoustic properties of [...] Read more.
The potential of tree bark, a by-product of the woodworking industry, has been studied for more than seven decades. Bark, as a sustainable raw material, can replace wood or other resources in numerous applications in construction. In this study, the acoustic properties of bark-based panels were analyzed. The roles of the particle size (4–11 mm and 10–30 mm), particle orientation (parallel and perpendicular) and density (350–700 kg/m3) of samples with 30 mm and 60 mm thicknesses were studied at frequencies ranging from 50 to 6400 Hz. Bark-based boards with fine-grained particles have been shown to be better in terms of sound absorption coefficient values compared with coarse-grained particles. Bark composites mixed with popcorn bonded with UF did not return the expected results, and it is not possible to recommend this solution. The best density of bark boards to obtain the best sound absorption coefficients is about 350 kg/m3. These lightweight panels achieved better sound-absorbing properties (especially at lower frequencies) at higher thicknesses. The noise reduction coefficient of 0.5 obtained a sample with fine particles with a parallel orientation and a density of around 360 kg/m3. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Production and Promotion)
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17 pages, 6604 KiB  
Article
Optimization and Mechanical Properties of Fabricated 2D Wood Pyramid Lattice Sandwich Structure
by Dongxia Yang, Changsheng Fan and Yingcheng Hu
Forests 2021, 12(5), 607; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12050607 - 12 May 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1711
Abstract
In order to obtain a lightweight, high strength, and large design space wooden sandwich structure to meet the needs of modern wooden buildings, the mechanical properties of a fabricated 2D wooden pyramid lattice sandwich structure were studied. In this paper, the mechanical and [...] Read more.
In order to obtain a lightweight, high strength, and large design space wooden sandwich structure to meet the needs of modern wooden buildings, the mechanical properties of a fabricated 2D wooden pyramid lattice sandwich structure were studied. In this paper, the mechanical and compressive properties of the specimens with different arrangement of Lattice Sandwich unit cells are studied. The upper and lower panels and core materials are made into a single unit cell by inserting glue, and the prefabricated 2D wooden pyramid lattice truss core sandwich structure is prepared by the mortise tenon splicing method. The results show that the arrangement of the unit cells in the specimen has a significant effect on the bearing capacity, energy absorption, and failure mode of the specimen, and the flat compression performance of the panel-reinforced specimen is better than that of the specimen with unreinforced veneer. The results of finite element analysis are consistent with the test results. The main failure modes are core fracture and panel cracking. These results provide a theoretical basis for the system design of wood-based lattice sandwich structure in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Production and Promotion)
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13 pages, 2614 KiB  
Article
Applying Machine Strength Grading System to Round Timber Used in Hydraulic Engineering Works
by Michela Nocetti, Giovanni Aminti, C. Brand Wessels and Michele Brunetti
Forests 2021, 12(3), 281; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12030281 - 28 Feb 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1461
Abstract
Round timber is often used for hydraulic engineering works, but the strength grading of round logs is not as well developed as that of sawn timber. The advantages of using defined strength classes, as well as the proper selection of the raw material, [...] Read more.
Round timber is often used for hydraulic engineering works, but the strength grading of round logs is not as well developed as that of sawn timber. The advantages of using defined strength classes, as well as the proper selection of the raw material, could be applicable to hydraulic works as well. In this study, the methods and rules developed for sawn timber were applied to the mechanical selection of oak round logs, paying particular attention to the issue of the simplicity of grading operations and the moisture content of the timber. Both the acoustic velocity and dynamic modulus of elasticity of oak logs were measured with different instruments before performing destructive bending tests; machine settings were derived for both properties and dry and wet grading operations were simulated to compare efficiency. The use of the dynamic modulus of elasticity makes machine grading more efficient. On the other hand, the use of acoustic velocity alone is feasible and makes the procedure much faster, even if wet grading resulted in very conservative estimations. The yields obtained were similar for lower grades, but to achieve higher strength classes, the dynamic modulus was preferable. For very fast and less expensive measurements, velocity could be considered an appropriate method, as an improvement over the use of unselected material. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Production and Promotion)
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10 pages, 2715 KiB  
Communication
Tracing the Geographic Origin of Merbau (Intsia palembanica Miq.) in Century Old Planting Trials
by Chin Hong Ng, Kevin Kit Siong Ng, Chai Ting Lee, Lee Hong Tnah, Nurul Farhanah Zakaria, Noorsiha Ayop and Soon Leong Lee
Forests 2020, 11(11), 1171; https://doi.org/10.3390/f11111171 - 03 Nov 2020
Viewed by 2407
Abstract
Our study highlights the utilization of a genetic database for wood-origin identification in Intsia palembanica, a valuable heavy hardwood from the tropical forests. This forensic tool is essential for strengthening the verification of legality in the wood supply chain from the forest [...] Read more.
Our study highlights the utilization of a genetic database for wood-origin identification in Intsia palembanica, a valuable heavy hardwood from the tropical forests. This forensic tool is essential for strengthening the verification of legality in the wood supply chain from the forest to the end-users. An increasing number of rules and regulations are being put in place to promote sustainable practice in the timber trade, one of which involves ensuring that importers declare the correct species name and source of geographic origin of the timber. We aimed to determine the origin of the I. palembanica seed source used in the early establishment on the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) campus. DNA samples of I. palembanica individuals from the FRIM campus were obtained and analyzed using four chloroplast (cp) DNA markers to characterize the haplotype variants for population identification. In addition, the DNA samples were also genotyped at 14 short tandem repeat (STR) loci for individual identification. Individual assignment to the possible geographic origin was done through an assignment test. On the basis of our recently developed I. palembanica genetic databases, the I. palembanica seed source for the early establishment was inferred to be originated from a mixture of several sources, with a large portion from the southern region (89%) and a relatively small portion from the northern region (11%) of Peninsular Malaysia. The I. palembanica seed source used for the early establishment on the century old FRIM campus was inferred to be originated from several forest reserves located not far from the planting sites. This study proves the applicability of the DNA method in supply-chain verification, where an unknown I. palembanica tree can be traced to its geographic origin using genetic databases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Production and Promotion)
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22 pages, 24976 KiB  
Article
The Development and Use of Isoscapes to Determine the Geographical Origin of Quercus spp. in the United States
by Charles J. Watkinson, Peter Gasson, Gareth O. Rees and Markus Boner
Forests 2020, 11(8), 862; https://doi.org/10.3390/f11080862 - 07 Aug 2020
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3117
Abstract
The stable isotope ratios of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and sulfur from extracted wood of 87 samples of oaks from the United States were analysed. Relationships with climate variables and the stable isotope ratios of the 69 training dataset samples were investigated to a [...] Read more.
The stable isotope ratios of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and sulfur from extracted wood of 87 samples of oaks from the United States were analysed. Relationships with climate variables and the stable isotope ratios of the 69 training dataset samples were investigated to a monthly resolution using long-term monthly mean climate data from NASA and the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit, in conjunction with forecast data for hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios in precipitation. These relationships were used to construct model isoscapes for oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and sulfur for US oak with the aim of using them to forecast isotopic patterns in areas that were not sampled and predict values in samples not used to construct the models. The leading predictors for isoscape generation were oxygen isotope ratios in January precipitation for oak oxygen isotope ratios, hydrogen isotope ratios in July precipitation for oak hydrogen isotope ratios, water vapour in April for carbon isotope ratios, and reflected shortwave radiation in March in combination with sulfate concentration in May for oak sulfur isotopes. The generated isoscapes can be used to show regions an unknown sample may have originated from with a resolution dependent on the rarity of the stable isotope signature within the United States. The models were assessed using the data of 18 samples of georeferenced oak. The assessment found that 100% of oxygen, 94% of hydrogen, 78% of carbon, and 94% of sulfur isotope ratios in the 18 test dataset samples fell within two standard deviations of the isoscape models. Using the results of the isoscapes in combination found that there were 4/18 test samples which did not fall within two standard deviations of the four models, this is largely attributed to the lower predictive power of the carbon isoscape model in conjunction with high local variability in carbon isotope ratios in both the test and training data. The method by which this geographic origin method has been developed will be useful to combat illegal logging and to validate legal supply chains for the purpose of good practice due diligence. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wood Production and Promotion)
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