X-ray micro-computed tomography (XμCT) was used to explore the decomposed structure of conifer and angiosperm wood after colonization by soft-rot fungi. The visualization of degradation features of soft-rot decay was challenging to achieve through XμCT. Difficulties in visualization emerged due to a decreased grayscale contrast (i.e. X-ray density) of the degraded wood. Nevertheless, we were able to image fungal-induced cell deformations in earlywood and cavities in the thick wall of latewood cells in three-dimensions (3D). Unlike the organic wood material, the higher X-ray density of inorganic deposits, identified as mainly calcium-based particles by energy-dispersive spectroscopy, allowed a facilitated 3D survey. The visualization of inorganic particles in 3D revealed a localized distribution in certain cells in conifer and angiosperm found mostly in earlywood.
Keywords: Inorganic particles; Scanning electron microscopy; Soft-rot decay; Three-dimensional imaging; Wood; X-ray micro-computed tomography.
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