Comparison between four tropical wood species for their resistance to marine borers (Teredo spp and Limnoria spp) in the Strait of Messina

The aim of this research was to evaluate the natural durability of different wood species against marine organisms in the Messina strait to determine the most durable wood species for the replacement of wooden docks. The wood species tested were Bilinga/Opepe (Nauclea diderrichii Merril), Okan (Cylico- discus gabunensis Taub (Harms), Demerara Greenheart (Ocota rodiaei Mez) and Azobe' (Lophira alata Banks ex Gaertn), the current wood species used for docks. Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) was used for reference controls. The assessment was performed in accordance with EN 275 combined with a software for image acquisition called Nis D3.22. From the results of this experiment, it can be seen that Bilinga and Okan can well replace the current utilization of Azobe' for wooden banking in the Sicilian strait. The Nis D3.22 software distinguished slight differences not perceived by the human eye in the assessment described in EN 275. These differences, which were lost in visual assessment associated with the wide nominal durability classes of EN 275, can contribute to the choice of wood species that are not suitable for their purpose, so the improvement of the assessment due to image analysis might be important even from an economic point of view.