In this study, the yields and composition of essential oils obtained from the cones of Pinaceae family species natively grown in Turkey were investigated. Essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation. Oil yields were 0.13-0.48 mL/100 g in pine cones, 0.42-0.59 mL/100g in fir, 0.36 mL/100g in spruce and 0.37 mL/100g in cedar. While α-pinene (47.1-14.8%) was the main constituent of P. slyvestris, P. nigra and P. halepensis, limonene (62.8%) in P. pinea and β-pinene (39.6%) in P. brutia were found in higher amounts. Like in P. pinea, limonene was the main compound in Cedrus libani (22.7%). In fir species the major compounds were α-pinene (70.6-53.0%) and β-pinene (10.9-8.2%). Contrary to other species β-pinene (32.7%) was found as a major compound in Picea orientalis.

Marine wood-boring teredinids, some of the most destructive wood borers in the sea, are a particularly difficult group to identify from morphological features. While in most bivalve species shell features are used as diagnostic characters, in the teredinids shell morphology shows high intraspecific variation and thus identification is based almost entirely on the morphology of the pallets. In the present study we aimed at improving ‘taxonomic resolution’ in teredinids by combining morphological evidence with mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences, respectively Cytochromec oxidase subunitI and small subunit rRNA 18S gene, to generate more rigorous and accessible identifications. DNA barcodes of Atlantic and Mediterranean populations of Lyrodus pedicellatus diverged by ~20%, suggesting cryptic species in the morphospecies L. pedicellatus. The low intraspecific divergence found in barcodes of specimens of Nototeredo norvagica (0.78%) confirms that Atlantic and Mediterranean forms of N. norvagica, the latter sometimes reported as Teredo utriculus, are the same species. Teredothyra dominicensis was found for the first time in the Mediterranean. A match was obtained between our 18S sequences and sequences of T. dominicensis from Netherlands Antilles, confirming that T. dominicensis in the Mediterranean is the same species that occurs in the Caribbean. There were differences in 18S sequences between Bankia carinata from the Mediterranean and Caribbean, which may indicate cryptic species.

Thermal modified wood has some advantages over natural wood, including decreased hygroscopicity, increased dimensional stability, and enhanced durability. In this study, European species of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), spruce (Picea orientalis), ash (Fraxinus spp.), and tropical species of tali (Erythrophleum ivorense), and iroko (Chlorophora excelsa) were thermally treated at 180 °C and 210 °C for 1,5 and 2 h, respectively. We evaluated the resistances of the untreated and thermally treated samples to decay induced by the white rot fungus, Trametes versicolor and two brown rot fungi, Coniophora puteana and Postia placenta. In addition, the samples were exposed to the termite Reticulitermes grassei and the longhorn beetle species Hylotrupes bajulus to evaluate their resistance to damage by the insects. During the heat treatment, the mass loss of the samples generally was between 9 and 14%. After the heat treatment, experiments were conducted to determine the effects of white and brown rot fungi on samples of Scots pine and tali, the effect of C. puteana on spruce, and the effects of C. puteana and P. placenta on ash and iroko. In all experiments, the mass loss due to damage from the various fungi was less than 1% for the samples that had been heat treated at 210 °C. The untreated and heat-treated tropical species exhibited higher durability with very low mass loss and 100% mortality of the insects when attacked by termites, whereas the other wood species had moderate attack. In addition, Hylotrupes bajulus exposure by two standart methods (EN 46 and 47) resulted in similar performances in most cases, although EN 47 treated samples at 210 °C showed improved durability for Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and spruce (Picea orientalis).

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