Proceedings e report - Firenze University Press

STUDIES ON INSECT DAMAGES OF WOODEN CULTURAL
HERITAGE IN LATVIA
Uwe Noldt 1 *, Guna Noldt 2 , Ingeborga Andersone 3 , Bruno Andersons 3
1 Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institute /Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries (vTI),
Institute of Wood Technology and Wood Biology (HTB) Hamburg, Germany
2 University of Hamburg, Department of Biology, Faculty Wood Science, Hamburg, Germany
3 Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, Riga, Latvia
Abstract
Wooden materials are frequently attacked by wood-destroying organisms, such as insects, fungi and bacteria.
With respect to wooden heritage in Latvia it was for the first time attempted to clarify the situation of attack by
wood-boring insects: collections of objects (buildings, furniture, other wooden artefacts) in Riga’s Brivdabas
Muzejs were thoroughly studied; churches in Riga, Kuldiga, Liepaja, Bauska, etc. and castles (Rundale,
Tukums) as well as other buildings were investigated, starting in 2004. An overall evaluation of the on-going
survey is presented with respect to attack by beetles Anobium punctatum (DeGeer), Hadrobregmus pertinax (L.),
Xestobium rufovillosum (DeGeer), Hylotrupes bajulus (L.).
1. Introduction
Based on initial studies in England [1-4] and parallel surveys in Germany, especially at the
Westphalian Open Air Museum in Detmold [5, 6], approaches were made with regard to a conceptual
application of the integrated pest management (IPM) to wood-destroying insects.
The first step of IPM is monitoring of the species damaging the timber [7, 8, 9, 11], including degree
of their occurrence and categorization of the respective damages. Monitoring in this context is
supervising the occurrence or the density of occurrence of populations of pest organisms, among them
the wood-destroying animals. The next step of IPM [4] includes the evaluation of adequate strategies
for the control measures and their application [10, 12]. Finally, the ecological parameters (i.e.,
conditions in the respective building) responsible for the attack need to be modified, e.g. moisture
content of the specific wooden material.
In the frame of a European Community project “Integration of the Latvian State Institute of Wood
Chemistry in the European Research Area”, called “Evaluation of the condition of the historical and
cultural wooden heritage”, the first attempt was made on evaluation of wood-boring insects in Latvia
and application of monitoring measures in Latvian historical wooden buildings, structures and
artefacts.
The objects including one open air museum, several castles, a multitude of churches, and several other
buildings (i.e., farm houses, mansions; Figs. 1, 5, 13, 15-17; Table 1) were investigated. Initial
monitoring measures were applied depending on the capacity of the people in charge. Additionally,
other objects will be included in the future. If not already done so, control measures will be discussed
and advised to the administrators.
2. Material and methods
Table 1 summarizes the objects which have been visited, revisited and studied to different extent since
the beginning of the year 2004.
Besides handing out information about the insects, their biology and typical characters of attack to the
people in charge of the different objects, simple monitoring measures were explained and advised.
These included: clean respective insect attacked areas on and around the objects, collect emerged
insects and/or use white papers underneath suspected areas, in order to prove without doubt recent
activity of wood-boring insects (Fig. 9).
* Email: uwe.noldt@vti.bund.de
Joseph Gril (edited by), Wood Science for Conservation of Cultural Heritage –Braga 2008: Proceedings of the International
Conference held by COST Action IE0601 (Braga - Portugal, 5-7 November 2008, ISBN 978-88-6453-157-1 (print)
ISBN 978-88-6453-165-6 (online) © 2010 Firenze University Press