1. Assessment of volatile metabolites for in situ detection of fungal decay in wooden structures
- Author
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Leonard L. Ingram, Edward D. Entsminger, Nasim Maafi, and Dragica Jeremic Nikolic
- Subjects
In situ ,Environmental Engineering ,Softwood ,biology ,Chemistry ,fungi ,Geography, Planning and Development ,technology, industry, and agriculture ,0211 other engineering and technologies ,Irpex lacteus ,Pinus glabra ,02 engineering and technology ,Building and Construction ,010501 environmental sciences ,biology.organism_classification ,complex mixtures ,01 natural sciences ,Horticulture ,Hardwood ,Gloeophyllum trabeum ,Quaking Aspen ,021108 energy ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Civil and Structural Engineering ,Trametes versicolor - Abstract
Although incipient fungal decay of wood may be difficult to detect in early stages, it causes a significant decrease in wood strength. Developing a reliable non-destructive identification method of decay to overcome wood replacement costs is necessary. This study examined mass losses and compression strength decrease of a softwood, spruce pine (Pinus glabra), and a hardwood, quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), exposed to two brown rot (Gloeophyllum trabeum and Postia placenta) and two white rot (Trametes versicolor and Irpex lacteus) fungi, and identified fungal volatile organic compounds (VOCs) collected over 12 weeks of decay. Principal component analysis (PCA) of VOCs spectra differentiated volatiles emitted from sound wood and wood exposed to fungi. Volatile compounds from two fungal species revealed distinctive patterns of early and late decay stages in each wood species. The overall distinct volatile patterns of fungal decay showed promising results for development of non-destructive identification of incipient decay in wooden building structures.
- Published
- 2020