Visualization of Commercial Coating Penetration into Fagus crenata Blume Wood Using a Non-Destructive X-ray Microtomography

Coatings can be used as a preservative method to protect the wood, especially the wood surface. The different component of the coating’s dependence of the purpose of it. The Japanese beech (Fagus crenata Blume) applied by several Japanese commercials coating materials. The coatings application used were spray type and brush type. X-ray microtomography in Fuji, Japan was used for visualized the coating samples. The X-ray target used were Cu, and Mo with Al filter. The X-ray image analysis in 2D and 3D were conducted using image J and VGStudio Max, respectfully. The coating’s containing materials and the concentration of it strongly affected the image result of X-ray microtomography visualization. The different X-ray target shows the different image results. The larger energy of X-ray (Mo with Al filter) is recommended to use for visualization. The X-ray images shows the penetration phenomena, which can be applied to calculate the penetration depth.

N Isotope Fractionation in Tree Tissues During N Reabsorption and Remobilization in Fagus crenata Blume

Background and Motivation: Nitrogen content in tissues of Fagus crenata Blume is key for flowering and seed production. However, there is a lack of information on seasonal intra-plant nitrogen partitioning in this representative tree species typical of heavy snowfall regions in Japan. Therefore, the objective of this study was to elucidate Fagus crenata intra-plant nitrogen movement by means of nitrogen content, nitrogen isotope analysis, and amino acids temporal variability. Materials and Methods: Nitrogen content, isotope ratio, and free amino acids content were measured in coarse roots, sapwood, leaves, and litter in four phenological stages in nine adult Fagus crenata trees and upscaled to the whole-tree level.

Litylenchus crenatae n. sp. (Tylenchomorpha: Anguinidae), a leaf gall nematode parasitising Fagus crenata Blume

Summary Litylenchus crenatae n. sp., isolated from leaf galls of Fagus crenata from Japan, is described and figured. The new species is characterised by its dimorphism in adult females, six (or more) lateral lines, a more or less pointed tail tip in both sexes, male bursa arising posteriorly and reaching to near tail tip, presence of a quadricolumella and a post-uterine sac in females. Litylenchus crenatae n. sp. is distinguished from its only congener, L. coprosma, by the number of lateral lines, six or more vs four; the lip morphology, offset with very shallow constriction or dome-shaped without clear constriction vs clearly offset; tail tip morphology, more or less pointed vs blunt; and structure of the median bulb, weakly muscular with a clear valve vs not muscular with an obscure valve. The molecular phylogenetic analysis confirms that the new species is close to, but clearly different from, L. coprosma.

Cryopreservation of Fagus crenata seeds: estimation of optimum moisture content for maintenance of seed viability by Bayesian modeling

Fagus crenata Blume is an important forestry tree species that plays a key biological role in natural forests. Because F. crenata forests are declining under global warming, the conservation of seed resources is necessary to maintain sustainable regeneration. We examined the capability of seed cryopreservation to achieve semi-permanent preservation of the F. crenata genetic resource. Seeds at 7%–26% moisture content (MC) exhibited greater than 64% viability, with developing radicles growing at 22 °C in 16 h photoperiods following chilling at 2 °C for 2 months. These seeds were then stored cryogenically at –170 °C for 6 months; cryopreservation at 26% MC reduced seed viability to 12%, whereas dry seeds (7%–14% MC) maintained viability and were comparable with seeds that had neither been dried nor cryopreserved. Drying seeds to 6% MC reduced viability to 47%; following cryopreservation, the viability of these seeds with such a low MC was 36%. Using a Bayesian model, we then determined that the optimal range of MC for the cryopreservation of F. crenata seeds was 9%–12%. We conclude that cryopreservation is feasible for the long-term storage of F. crenata seeds, drying of the seeds to the range of optimal MC retains high viability during cryogenic storage.

Tree-ring response to the 1995 M_w 7.2 Kobe earthquake, southwest Japan

The 1995 Mw 7.2 Kobe earthquake produced an ~ 18 km-long surface rupture zone with a maximum right-lateral displacement of ~ 1.8 m along the pre-existing active Nojima Fault in southwest Japan. Field investigations showed that the co-seismic surface ruptures caused severe damage to trees, some of which survived the disaster during the past twenty years along the co-seismic fault scarp. Analysis of tree-rings from the trunk of a 46-year-old Beech tree (Fagus crenata Blume) revealed that the tree was cracked by earthquake-induced damage and that the tree-rings grown during the five-year period after the 1995 earthquake become sharply narrower in width compared to those grown before the earthquake. Our findings indicate that the earthquake damaged trees along the co-seismic fault scarp and hindered the growth of tree-rings by severing the roots. Thus, the results support the idea that older trees growing along or around fault zones can be used for identifying seismic fault events and for dendrochronological studies related to geomorphological processes.