Skip to main content

Blue Stain



Blue stain (synonymous sap stain) is a blue,grey or black, radially striped dially stri wood discoloration of sapwood, which can be caused by about 100 to 250 (Kaarik 1980) fungi belonging to the Ascomycetes and De (1999) and others differentiated three uteromycetes. 




Seifert groups of blue-stain fungi: - Cerato-cystis, Ophiostoma and Ceratocystiopsis species (Upadhyay 1981; Perry 1991; Gibbs 1999), - black yeasts such as Hormonema dematioides, Aureobasidium pullulans, Rhinocladiella atrovirens, and Phialophora species, - dark molds such as Alternaria alternata, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, and C. cladospo-rioides. Yang (1999) differentiated dark staining fungi, such as Ophiostoma piliferum on jack pine, Ceratocystis minor on white pine, and C. coerulescens on white spruce, and light staining fungi, such as 0. piceae, C. adiposa and Leptographium sp.

 Frequently, like in the Ophiostoma species, the teleomorph is a perithecium . Blue stain occurs in conifers, particularly in pine, but also in spruce, fir, and larch, in hardwoods, like beech and birch, and in tropical woods. The stain may be superficial or penetrate deeply into the wood. In heartwood species, only the sapwood discolors, since blue-stain fungi live mainly on the content of the parenchyma cells.  shows some details of blue stain. 

The hyphae are brown colored due to melanin (Zink and Fengel 1989) and relatively thick . Some species like A. pullulans develop dark-brown, thick-walled chlamydospores . 

The blue-black color of th. e wood develops as optical effect due to refraction of light. Hyphae penetrate into stem wood from cross sections or radially through bark fissures and move via the medullary rays. Easily accessible nutrients (sugars, carbohydrates, starch, pro-teins, fats, extractives) are taken up lase have from the ray parench.)rmacells.bXluylea-nstaasien nnanase, p Xylanase, maectinase and amye been detected in several  fungi s of the bordered through the torus (Schirp et al. 2003a). 

From the rays, the hyphae penetrate into the longi-tudinal tracheids with mechanical pressure pits (thin hyphae through the margo) and grow there from cell to cell through the pits. Because fungi colonize the sapwood tracheids and fibers, components of the capillary liquid also might be used as nutrients. Although there are special microhyphae, transpressoria , which can break through the wood cell wall, probably by physical pressure and/or enzymatic action (Schmid and Liese 1966; Liese 1970), in most cases the strength properties of wood are hardly affected. Thus, the occasionally used term "blue rot" is wrong. Some species however caused some strength loss. Toughness was the property most seriously affected (Seifert 1999; Schirp et al. 2003b). In most cases, however, the damage to wood is mainly cosmetic. 

The damage however affects domestic and export earnings for the forest industries. For example, Pinus radiata in New Zealand is highly susceptible to blue stain with an estimated annual loss in revenue of NZ$ 100 million per year (Thwaites et al. 2004). Temperature minimum depends on the species, and is between 0 and —3°C; the optimum is between 18 and 29 °C and the maximum is between 28 and 40 °C. The moistures pan reaches from fiber saturation close to umax. In many species, the optimum is between 30 and 120%(Kaarik 1980; Schumacher and Schulz 1992). For log colonization, moisture loss in the felled tree of 10-15% is sufficient. 




Blue stain occurs during seasoning or transportation ofgreen lumber before the wood is dried and is enhanced at relative humidities above 90% (Seifert 1999). Blue-stain fungi were arranged into different ecological groups (Butin 1995): In blue stain of stems (primary blue stain), spores of Ophiostoma species (mois-ture optimum 50-130%), particularly Ophiostoma piceae (Harrington et al. 2001) and also Discula pinicola are transferred by wind in bark wounds (forest work or wood transport) as well as by bark beetles particularly in un-debarked pine stems which are allowed to dry out slowly over weeks or months while ly-ing in the forest (Neumaller and Brandstatter 1995). 


Hormonema dematioides, A. pullulans, and a Leptographium species were the most frequently isolated stain-fungi from bark and sapwood of living Pinus banksiana trees. There were indications that none of the well-known log-staining fungi was associated with healthy living jack pine trees, and it was deduced that prompt transportation of logs from forests to sawmills and sanitary treatment of log storage yards thp ceverity- of log staining before sawing (Yang 2004)

Comments

Top 10 post

Reproduction of Deuteromycetes

    F ungi that reproduce asexually (anamorphic fungi ) are either yeasts or Deu-teromycetes. The term "yeast" is descriptive and stands for any fungus that reproduces by budding. Deuteromycetes (Fungi imperfecti, colloquially: molds) is an artificial as-semblage of fungi that reproduce asexually by conidia (conidiospores), either as the only form for propagation (imperfect fungi) or additionally (anamorph) to a sexual reproduction (teleomorph). When both the anamorph and the teleo-morph are known, the fungus is called a holomorph (the whole fungus). The teleomorph may have one (mono-anamorphic) or many (pleo-anamorphic) asexual stages. In other words: Deuteromycetes are the conidia-producing forms of a fungus and may or may not be associated with a teleomorph. Many Deuteromycetes are supposed to have a teleomorph in the Ascomycetes, but they may also have basidiomycetous affinity. Also in the wood-inhabiting Deuteromycetes, the teleomorph often is of ascomycetous a

What shapes the peer review landscape in ecology?

It was great to be discussing the future of peer review with researchers at the recent peer review  panel discussion  organised by the British Ecological Society (BES) at their annual conference in Liverpool last week. Jane Hill (Professor of Ecology at the University of York and Chair of BES Publications Committee) chaired the debate, and we heard from Allen Moore (Editor-in-Chief,  Ecology and Evolution),  Patricia Morse (Managing Editor,  American Naturalist ), Nate Sanders (Senior Editor,  Journal of Animal Ecology ), Andy Robertson (Senior Vice President & Managing Director, Society Services, Wiley) and me. We started with a discussion of ways in which the publishing process could be opened up, with Allen advocating open science principles and pre-registration of research. Nate also shared his experience in the value of “opening up” research online to get people talking and to generate new ideas. Andy Robertson suggested that partnering with services such as  Overlea

Islands

      H ow often have you seen those wonderful advertisements inviting you to have a holiday on a tropical island ( Fig. )What is it about islands, whether in the tropics or polar regions, that suggests romance, excitement and adventure? Is it because of a sense of escape from the pressures and stress of a bustling way of life, or the opportunity to savour sun-soaked beaches, or the adventure of rocky unexplored shores, or perhaps the chance of seeing unique island wildlife? It is for all these reasons that there is a growing tourist industry for many islands around the world. The wildlife of islands, especially oceanic islands , has long been of special significance in biology , ecology , conservation and biogeography. Studies of island species have also been of historical significance for evolutionary biology. Many of the world's islands have high levels of endemic flora and fauna; that is, taxa found only on a particular island and no other place.  Island biota has o

Red Streaking

Red Streaking Red-streaking discoloration (known as "Rotstreifigkeit" in Germany) is one of the most common and important damage in seasoning logs and sawn lumber, occurring only in conifers (spruce, pine, fir) and recognized as a distinct con-dition in continental Europe.  The stripe-shaped to spotted yellow to reddish-brown discoloration extends in logs from both their bark-covered faces and from their cut ends (Butin 1995; Baum and Bariska 2002) . Stems that are not debarked show a rather flat discoloration and debarked stems exhibit a streakier staining (v. Pechmann et al. 1967). Causal agents are several white-rot Basidiomycetes, in spruce particularly Stereum sanguinolentum (Kleist and Seehann 1997) and Amylostereum areola-turn. In south Germany, Amylostereum chailettii is common (Zycha and Knopf 1963; v. Pechmann et al. 1967).  In pine, red streaking is mainly due to Trichap-turn abietinum (Butin 1995). According to Kreisel (1961), S. sanguinolentum and T

Ecosia ; Ecology Search

https://www.ecosia.org/ How it works You search the web with Ecosia.   Ads Search ads generate income for Ecosia.   Ecosia uses this income to plant trees. httpecologicaljournal.blogspot.com Ecosia about video

Bioenergetics

T housands of chemical reactions occur throughout the body during each minute of the day. Collec-tively, these reactions are called metabolism. Metab-olism includes chemical pathways that result in the synthesis of molecules (anabolic reactions) as well as the breakdown of molecules (catabolic reactions). Since energy is required by all cells, it is not sur-prising that cells possess chemical pathways that are capable of converting foodstuffs (i.e., fats, proteins, carbohydrates) into a biologically usable form of energy .  This metabolic process is termed bioenergetics. In order for you to run, jump, or swim, skeletal muscle cells must be able to continuously extract energy from food nutrients. In fact, the inability to transform energy contained in foodstuffs into usable biological energy would limit performance in endurance activities. The explanation for this is simple. To continue to contract, muscle cells must have a continuous source of energy. When energy is not rea

White Rot

W hite-rot research has been reviewed by Ericksson et al. (1990) and Mess-ner et al. (2003). White rot means the degradation of cellulose, hemicellu-loses, and lignin usually by Basidiomycetes and rarely by Ascomycetes, e.g., Kretzschmaria deusta and Xylaria hypoxylon.  White rot has been classified by macroscopic characteristics into white-pocket, white-mottled, and white-stringy, the different types being affected by the fungal species, wood species, and ecological conditions. From microscopic and ultrastructural investiga-tions, two main types of white rot have been distinguished (Liese 1970).  In the simultaneous white rot ("corrosion rot"), carbohydrates and lignin are almost uniformly degraded at the same time and at a similar rate during all decay stages. Typical fungi with simultaneous white rot are Fomes fomentar-ws, Phellinus igniarius, Phellinus robustus, and Trametes versicolor in standing trees and stored hardwoods (Blanchette 1984a).  Wood decay

Soft Rot

The term " soft rot " was originally used by Findlay and Savory (1954) to describe a specific type of wood decay caused by Ascomycetes and Deuteromycetes which typically produce chains of cavities within the S2 layer of soft- and hardwoods in terrestrial and aquatic environments (Liese 1955), for example when the wood-fill  in cooling towers became destroyed despite water saturation, and when poles broke, although they were protected against Basidiomvcetes.  About 300 species (Seehann et al. 1975) to some 1,600 examples of ascomvcete and deuteromvcete fungi (Eaton and Hale 1993) cause soft rot, e.g., Chaeromium globosurn (Takahashi 1978), Hurnicola spp., Lecythophora hoffrnannii, Monodictys putredinis, Paecilornyces spp., and Thielavia terrestris. Soft-rot fungi differ from brown-rot and white-rot Basidiomycetes by grow-ing mainly inside the woody cell wall trate, starting from the tracheidal lumina., by means of thin perforation hyphae of less than 0.5 pm thickne

Antagonists, Synergists, and Succession

                Interactions (reciprocal effects) between wood fungi have been early investi-gated e.g., by Oppermann (1951) and Leslie et al. (1976), and were described in detail by Rayner and Boddy (1988). Antagonism (competitive reciprocal effect), the mutual inhibition and in a broader sense the inhibition of one organism by others, is based on the pro-duction of toxic metabolites, on mycoparasitism, and on nutrient competition.  Antagonisms are investigated as alternative to the chemical protection against tree fungi ("biological forest protection") and against fungi on wood in service ("biological wood protection") (Walchli 1982; Bruce 1992; Holdenrieder and Greig 1998; Phillips-Laing et al. 2003). As early as 1934, Weindling showed the inhibiting effect of Trichoderma species on several fungi. Bjerkandera adusta and Ganoderma species were antagonistic against the causing agent of Plane canker stain disease (Grosclaude et al. 1990). Also, v. Aufseg (197

Sexual Reproduction

A specific feature of the sexual reproduction of Ascomycetes and Basid-iomycetes is that plasmogamy of haploid cells and karyogamy of two nuclei (n) to form a diploid nucleus (2n) are separated from each other temporally as well spatially by the dikaryophase (two-nuclei phase, dikaryon, n + n, ===) (Fig.1). A dikaryotic hypha is one with two nuclei that derive from two haploid hyphae, but in which the nuclei are not yet fused by karyogamy. Particularly in Basidiomycetes, the dikaryotic phase is considerably ex-tended. By conjugated division of the two nuclei (conjugated mitosis), by division of the dikaryotic hypha, and by means of a special nucleus migration connested with camp formation both daughter cells become again dikaryotic.  Ascomycetes  The life cycle of a typical ascomycete is shown in Fig.1 (also Muller and Loeffler 1992; Eaton and Hale 1993; Schwantes 1996; Jennings and Lysek 1999). Haploid (n) spores (A, ascospores or conidia from an anamorph) germi-nate