The service life of exposed wooden structures depends on a variety of endogenous and exogenous factors with moisture being key for fungal degradation. Climate parameters are therefore important input variables for modelling fungal decay in wood and the service life of wooden components. In recent years, different approaches aimed on modelling climate-induced dosage on the material climate (i.e. exposure models) and the effect of the latter on fungal decay (i.e. decay models). Based on maps for Europe, North America or Australia, the decay hazard can be assigned to zones and used for estimating the relative decay potential of an arbitrary location. However, especially in topographically divergent regions the climate-induced decay hazard can vary strongly within a small area. This study aimed therefore on quantifying and mapping the moisture- and temperature-induced risk for fungal decay in a mountainous region where topography-induced differences in local climate and corresponding exposure dosage can be expected. The area under investigation was Switzerland.
Keywords: fungal decay, moisture-induced, temperature-induced
Authors
Christian Brischke
University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
Vanessa Selter
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