Fungi attacking historic wood of Fort Conger and the Peary Huts in the High Arctic.

Robert A Blanchette,Joel Jurgens,Benjamin W Held,Catherine Dupont,Amanda Stear,Adam Csank

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0246049

Robert A Blanchette, Joel Jurgens + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246049

Copy DOI

Abstract

Historic wooden structures in Polar Regions are being adversely affected by decay fungi and a warming climate will likely accelerate degradation. Fort Conger and the Peary Huts at Lady Franklin Bay in northern Ellesmere Island are important international heritage sites associated with early exploration in the High Arctic. Fort Conger, built by Adolphus Greely and expedition members during the First International Polar Year in 1881, was dismantled and used by Robert Peary and his expedition crew in the early 1900’s to build several smaller shelters. These historic structures remain at the site but are deteriorating. This investigation examines the fungi associated with wood decay in the historic woods. Soft rot was observed in all 125 wood samples obtained from the site. The major taxa found associated with the decayed wood were Coniochaeta (18%), Phoma (13%) Cadophora (12%), Graphium (9%), and Penicillium (9%) as well as many other Ascomycota that are known to cause soft rot in wood. Micromorphological observations using scanning electron microscopy of historic wooden timbers that were in ground contact revealed advanced stages of type I soft rot. No wood destroying Basidiomycota were found. Identification of the fungi associated with decay in these historic woods is a first step to better understand the unusual decomposition processes underway in this extreme environment and will aid future research to help control decay and preserve this important cultural heritage.

Highlights

There is great concern that historic wood in Polar Regions is deteriorating and important cultural heritage will be lost [1,2,3,4]
Sections were examined microscopically to determine the type of wood degradation that was present in the wood from Fort Conger and the Peary Huts
Historic wood of the Peary huts and residual wood left by the Greely expedition at Fort Conger was found to be colonized by many different Ascomycota

Summary

Introduction

There is great concern that historic wood in Polar Regions is deteriorating and important cultural heritage will be lost [1,2,3,4]. Archaeological wooden remains and other organic materials are under threat of being degraded [10,11,12]. Many of these archaeological materials have had extraordinary preservation by being embedded in frozen soils that have protected them for millennia. Global warming appears to be accelerating decay rates at archaeological sites studied in Greenland [8].

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion