WOOD RESEARCH Volume 62, Number 1, 2017
Alina Samusevich, ALEŠ ZEIDLER, and Monika Vejpustková

Influence of air pollution and extreme frost on wood cell parameters at mountain spruce stands (Picea abies (L.) karst.) in the ore mountains

The aim of the research was to evaluate the potential of wood anatomy parameters as stress indicators on base of changing cell characteristics and proportion of latewood in Picea abies stands damaged by extreme climatic conditions in combination with high air pollution load during the winter 1995/96. The research was carried out in the Ore Mountains (Czech Republic), where sites were located along the gradient of forest damage. Preliminary analyses showed the decrease of lumen width, cell wall thickness and the number of tracheid in the tree rings of spruce at heavily damaged site. Significant difference was shown between sites with different damage level. Moreover the difference in reaction dynamics of earlywood and latewood parameters was recorded. The length of stands regeneration was shown to be around 3 years depending on the assessed parameter and the damage rate.

WOOD RESEARCH Volume 66, Number 4, 2021
Martin Lexa, Monika Vejpustková, and ALEŠ ZEIDLER

Effect of imission to xylem anatomy of Norway spruce

The aim of this work was to analyse the relationship between anatomical parameters of spruce tracheids and climatic factors and air pollution load, in the period before, during and after the maximum air pollution load. In this study we used the method of dividing annual rings into a number of equally wide sectors, for which the average values of the tracheid dimensions, i.e., the lumen area and cell wall width, were determined. This method was compared to the classic approach, which works with the average values of parameters for the entire annual ring, or for earlywood and latewood. The study showed that the trees responded to the increased concentration of pollutants by reducing the widths of the annual rings and the values of the anatomical parameters. The higher resolution of data gives us a better insight on the influence of abiotic factors to the wood structure. The ratio of cell wall thicknesses of earlywood to latewood was also shown as a good indicator of stress.

WOOD RESEARCH Volume 64, Number 3, 2019
Agata Stachowiak-Wencek

Influence of the packing method of wood products on the emission of volatile organic compounds

The work presents the influence of the way of packing the furniture on the level of emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from the furniture after its unpacking. The study involved oak wood samples finished with selected varnish coating (polyurethane, waterborne and waterborne UV curable coating). After preparation the samples have been packed for 15 days into selected packaging materials: corrugated cardboard, polyurethane foam and stretch film. The VOC tests were carried out by means of the chamber test method. VOCs were analyzed by gas chromatography fitted with mass spectrometry and thermal desorption. The influence of the used type of packaging material on the level of VOCs emitted from furniture items after their immediate unpacking has been observed. The highest concentration of VOCs was found in items wrapped in stretch film while the lowest concentration was found in items packed in corrugated cardboard. That trend was irrespective of the type of coating material.