ABSTRACT
With regard to its physical properties, especially to its durability, wood is a very special natural product. As long as trees which produce timber continue to grow, it is necessary that their boles be resistant to bacterial or fungal decay. This may not always be the case, but in principle, most trees are blessed with longevity, the oldest known specimens having endured for more than three thousand years. The carbon cycle would however be interrupted if after the death of the tree the wood had a slow rate of decay; therefore, natural degradation begins soon after the death of the tree with white-rot fungi being the most prominent organisms which prey upon the tree carcasses.
