Wood chemistry used to track origin of timber

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Wood chemistry used to track origin of timber
Rhett A. Butler
December 18, 2008

A researcher is using carbon and oxygen isotopes to track the origin of timber as part of a worldwide effort to develop methods to combat illegal logging.

Dr. Akira Kagawa, a wood scientist with the Forestry & Forest Products Research Institute in Tsukuba, Japan, has developed a technique that compares the ratio of various isotopes in tree rings to pinpoint the geographic origin of timber from temperate climates. The technique capitalizes on differences in climatic parameters (temperature and precipitation) over distances — trees that grow in close proximity will show similar fluctuation of stable isotopes; trees growing at distances of 150-300 kilometers away from one another other will show differences in stable isotope fluctuation. The process builds on earlier work that used only tree ring width for determining the origin of wood.

Kagawa says the new technique is more precise, but notes that it doesn't yet work for tracking tropical timber that lack tree rings. Tropical timber is important because it is the dominant type of wood in the $10-billion-per-year illegal timber trade He says that improving current isotope analysis technique, sampling other isotopes or combining the technique with others used for determining the origin of wood (including DNA and chemical extracts) may hold the key for tropical timber.

Kagawa presented his research at the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting in San Francisco.

International Symposium of Methods to Identify Wood Species and the Origin of Timber of Southeast Asia

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CITATION:
Rhett A. Butler (December 18, 2008). Wood chemistry used to track origin of timber. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1218-agu_kagawa_timber.html

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