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

• Natural durability of tropical wood species into marine environment.
• End use of wood as marine docks in Messina, Sicily sea.
• Utilization of new assessment where the traditional EN 275 method is combined with a software for image acquisition.
• Correlation between EN 275 method of ranking based only on visual observation and new more precise image acquisition software.
• Determination of a grading scale between tropical wood species considered durable or moderate durable.

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 (Cylicodiscus gabunensis Taub (Harms), Demerara Greenheart (Ocota rodiaei Mez) and Azobé (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 Azobè 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.