Investigations of Biodeterioration by Fungi in Historic Wooden Churches of Chiloé, Chile

Abstract

The use of wood in construction has had a long history and Chile has a rich cultural heritage of using native woods for building churches and other important structures. In 2000, UNESCO designated a number of the historic churches of Chiloé, built entirely of native woods, as World Heritage Sites. These unique churches were built in the late 1700 s and throughout the 1800 s, and because of their age and exposure to the environment, they have been found to have serious deterioration problems. Efforts are underway to better understand these decay processes and to carryout conservation efforts for the long-term preservation of these important structures. This study characterized the types of degradation taking place and identified the wood decay fungi obtained from eight historic churches in Chiloé, seven of them designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites. Micromorphological observations identified white, brown and soft rot in the structural woods and isolations provided pure cultures of fungi that were identified by sequencing of the internal transcribed region of rDNA. Twenty-nine Basidiomycota and 18 Ascomycota were found. These diverse groups of fungi represent several genera and species not previously reported from Chile and demonstrates a varied microflora is causing decay in these historic buildings.

A discussion on the genus Fomitiporella (Hymenochaetaceae, Hymenochaetales) and first record of F. americana from southern South America

“…From the ITS phylogeny, it is noted that another strain that clustered with F. americana was the strain ‘Achao 50’ isolated from roof tiles of an historic wooden church from Chiloé Is. in southern Chile ( Ortiz et al 2014 ) (Suppl. material 3 : Figure S1).…”

“…but this study shows it is widely distributed on many hosts in southern South America. Our results also show that F. americana is one of the wood-rotting agents decaying historic wooden churches in Chiloé Is., southern Chile, recorded as isolate ‘Achao50’ ( Ortiz et al 2014 ). During many years, the causing agent of the WHR present in A.…”

Plant essential oils for environment-friendly protection of wood objects against fungi

“…Due to the high historic potential they must be protected against damages. A large part of historic wood is found inside such as carvings, altarpieces in churches, mosques and museums (Blanchette 2000, Cojocariu and Tanase 2010, Ortiz et al 2014. Historic wooden structures may be attacked by various degradation agents (Blanchette 2000).…”

Effect of Thermo-Treatment on the Physical and Mechanical, Color, Fungal Durability of Wood of Tectona Grandis and Gmelina Arborea from Forest Plantations

“…Wood is a widely used material [1]; however, it presents some inconveniences, such as dimensional changes [1] and susceptibility to damage caused by biotic and abiotic agents [2]. Due to these problems, new techniques and processes have been developed to modify and improve the properties of the wood [3].…”