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IntroductionGenetic, environmental, and anthropogenic factors affect the structure and properties of wood during the formation of wood cells and tissue (Wodzicki, 2001). Environmental factors can be classified as climatic factors (light intensity, temperature, air humidity, precipitation, and wind), physiographic factors (altitude, aspect, slope, and side slope), edaphic factors (soil characteristics), and biotic factors (humans, animals, plants, and microorganisms) (Cepel, 1995). As altitude increases, land area narrows and atmospheric pressure and air temperature decrease (Körner, 2007). Another physiographic factor of importance is the aspect, which particularly affects temperature and rainfall climate of the land. Beech forests spread a lot more on shaded aspects and on northern slopes of mountains during the vegetation season. For beech to grow in the most favorable conditions temperature should decrease by a certain amount and rainfall should increase. These conditions are associated with altitude. Oriental beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky), starting in the West Balkans, stretches to Anatolia, the Caucasus, the north of the Elburz Mountains, and the Crimean peninsula in the north of the Black Sea region (Atalay, 1992). Beech wood has economic importance for Turkey today, it is hard and heavy, and it has a wide variety of usages. It is used for furniture, flooring, veneer, plywood, toys, packaging, tool handles, shoe heels, and impregnated railway sleepers. It is also used for mining poles and firewood (Bozkurt and Erdin, 1997). There are various studies in the literature about the effects of ecological factors on wood characteristics. The majority of these studies are associated with the altitude and the relationships among wood properties. Many researchers have determined that there is a significant relationship between wood anatomical properties and ecological factors, as has been reported for Alnus nepalensis by Noshiro et al. (1994), for Rhododendron by Noshiro et al. (1995), and for Quercus pontica by Yılmaz et al. (2008). It has been reported that there is no important relationship between the anatomical properties of wood and altitude for Dodonaea viscosa by Liu and Noshiro (2003), for the genus Castanopsis by Pande et al. (2005), and for Buddleja cordata by Aguilar-Rodriguez et al. (2006). Many studies

In this study, we investigated the color, gloss and surface roughness of bamboo (Phyllostachys bambusoides) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) samples impregnated with boron and copper based preservatives during accelerated weathering from 168 h to 672 h. Tanalith-E, ACQ, wolmanit-CB were used as copper-based chemicals, while a mixture of boric acid and borax (7:3; w/w) was used as the boron compound.Results showed that retention values of bamboo samples were lower than the retention values of Scots pine samples probably due to the bamboo's anatomical structure and penetration characteristic. Bamboo surfaces became rougher and darker after impregnation and accelerated weathering compared to initial surfaces. Longer accelerated weathering periods seemed to have not a considerable effect on surface roughness of bamboo samples impregnated with copper based preservatives. Gloss of impregnated Scots pine samples increased with longer accelerated weathering period while gloss of bamboo samples decreased slightly with longer accelerated weathering period. Wolmanit-CB seemed to be most effective wood preservative for hindering color change and ensuring smooth surfaces after accelerated weathering. Color changes caused by accelerated weathering tended to be greater for impregnated bamboo samples than impregnated Scots pine samples.

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Knowing the effects of natural aging on wood properties is important both for the conservation of historical wooden material and for reuse of aged wood. The aim of this study was to investigate the wood properties of old wooden elements not impregnated with any protective chemicals and taken from different parts of Zeytinlik houses in Giresun, Turkey. Test samples were prepared from old wooden elements and freshly cut chestnut timber. The anatomical, chemical, physical and mechanical properties were determined according to standard procedure, and the results were compared with those of recent wood specimen. As a result of the anatomical identification, it was determined that the wooden elements used in traditional Zeytinlik houses belong to species of Anatolian chestnut (Castanea sativa), and after an average service life of 88, 113 and 120 years, there was no change in the anatomical structure of the old wooden elements. Fourier transform infrared band characterization of old wood specimens revealed that hemicelluloses degraded and lignin structure changed on the surface of almost all specimens. Especially, the wood density values of the facade elements were smaller than that of recent wood specimen. Except for the modulus of rupture of window sill and rafter, all mechanical properties were significantly greater compared with those of recent wood specimen. The results of this research showed that old wood not damaged by fungi and insects could be evaluated for reuse.

This paper investigates the changes in density, compression strength parallel to grain, static modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity of untreated (control) and waterborne-treated bamboo (Phyllostachys bambusoides), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Oriental beech (Fagus orientalis) specimens subjected to accelerated weathering using an accelerated weathering chamber for 672 hours. Wolmanit-CB (CCB), tanalith-E (Tan-E), amine copper quat-1900 (ACQ) and boric acid-borax (BB) were used as waterborne preservatives. The retention value of bamboo specimens was lower than that of wood specimens due to the difference in anatomical structure of bamboo. The value of density, compression strength parallel to grain, static modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity of treated bamboo and wood were generally higher than those of untreated specimens after accelerated weathering. ACQ treatment generally provided the best protection against weathering in all mechanical tests for both bamboo and wood specimens, while CCB treatment provided an effective protection against weathering in compression strength for Oriental beech. BB treatment provided the least protection against weathering for bamboo and wood specimens compared to other waterborne preservatives.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the antifungal properties, total polyphenolic content and antioxidant activity of sapwood, heartwood and bark parts obtained from three different fruit trees; olive (Olea europaea L.), loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) and date plum (Diospyros lotus L.) grown in Turkey. Firstly, the hydrodistillation products (essential oil, hydrosol, hot-water extract) were acquired from these parts of selected trees, and methanol and ethanol extracts of the same samples were also prepared for the analysis. The antifungal activities of essential oil, hydrosol, hot-water extract, ethanol and methanol extracts were determined against wood-rot fungus Coniophora puteana. In addition, polyphenol contents and antioxidant activities of ethanol and methanol extracts were investigated. According to the results, generally, the essential oil of the parts of three fruit trees was found to inhibit the fungal growth. All hot water extracts and hydrosols of these trees showed no antifungal activity against C. puteana. It was found that olive tree had higher antifungal activity than loquat and date plum trees. The methanol extract of loquat bark gave the highest total phenolic content, total flavonoid content and condensed tannin content compared to parts of the other trees. Furthermore, the highest total polyphenol content and antioxidant activity among three fruit trees were determined in ethanol and methanol extracts of the bark and heartwood of loquat tree. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that the parts of studied fruit trees have less or more antifungal and antioxidant activity depending on the experimental parameters, and therefore they can be evaluated as alternative natural antifungal and antioxidant sources.

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