During the past 90 years the activities of the group has always been a mixture of fundamental and applied work and its direct application to the utilisation of timber. Our work on post-harvest deterioration has focussed on the protection of freshly felled logs and freshly sawn timber. Recent work has lead to recommendations for two new European standards to assess the chemical control of post harvest fungal staining of green timber.
Work continues on the use of bio-control fungi and integrated control systems.
Studies into the mode of failure of treatments will lead to the development of stain management systems which it is hoped will maintain the use of timber as a structural packaging material, particularly in relation to food contact and agricultural use. The continued use of chemicals for stain control will depend on the eventual fate of the chemicals in the environment, and in waste streams. Current work on the biotransformation of the commonly used biocides will form the basis for justifying their continued use and help maintain the role of timber in this market. Physiology of wood decay fungi The physiology of wood decay fungi is a continuing interest of the group. The activity of wood inhabiting fungi at varying oxygen potentials is helping to explain the microbial ecology of these fungi in an, ever changing set of conditions.