Open AccessThe activity of rot fungi ( P ostia placenta ) during drying and rewetting cycles measured by isothermal calorimetry
Author(s) -
Wadsö Lars,
Johansson Sanne,
Pilgård Annica,
Alfredsen Gry
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
engineering in life sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.547
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1618-2863
pISSN - 1618-0240
DOI - 10.1002/elsc.201200096
Subject(s) - isothermal process , moisture , calorimetry , water content , water activity , respiration rate , chemistry , respiration , horticulture , food science , zoology , materials science , botany , biology , composite material , thermodynamics , physics , geotechnical engineering , geology
Rot fungi are a major problem in the construction sector, and method to study under which moisture and temperature coefficients they grow are therefore of significant interest. Measurements of heat production rate have been made on wood samples with the brown rot fungus P ostia placenta at different moisture contents ( MC s). The results clearly show the heat production rate (a measure of respiration rate and fungal activity) is moisture‐dependent. For most cases, less heat was produced when the MC was decreased, and more heat was produced when the MC was increased. It was also found that when the MC increased after a dry period, the increase in activity was significantly delayed. However, if the moisture state was then kept constant at a high level, the activity slowly increased, showing that the fungi need time to recover back to the original activity level after drying. Isothermal calorimetry is a measurement technique well suited for the study of the activity of wood‐decaying fungi as a function of temperature and moisture content.