The Use of Stereological Techniques for Investigating the Effect of Tree Age and Level of Height on the Anatomical Structure of Eucalyptus camaldulensis var. obtusa PDF

Keywords

wood, structural characterization, stereological techniques

Abstract

Wood is natural and a very variable material. Much of this variability is attributed to the cellular structure of wood. Stereological techniques were introduced as fast, easy and adequately accurate methods for quantitative structural characterization of wood. The techniques rely on counts rather than direct measurements. In this investigation systematic point counts, boundary intersection counts and feature counts were made on projected transverse sections of wood from trees of Eucalyptus camaldulensis var. obtusa of different ages. Intersection counts and feature counts were also made on macerated fibers. These stereological counts were used for obtained wood structural parameters such as volume fractions of different wood cells, cell wall and lumen volume fractions, cell cross-sectional dimensions, ratios of these dimensions and fiber length. The analysis revealed significant differences between the wood of trees of different ages in most parameters; while within-tree variations were significant only for a few parameters. Many of these variations, however, did not follow any special trend, which might be attributed to the intrinsic patterns of variations inherited in this species.