The Case History of an Insect Infestation Revealed Using X-ray Computed Tomography and Implications for Museum Collections Management Decisions

Shivani Arbat,Ajay Sharma,Annelies M Mondi,Brian T Forschler

doi:10.3390/heritage4030056

Abstract

The protection of cultural heritage and property is a significant and critical task that requires collaboration and expertise in a variety of disciplines. Of the many risk factors, insect infestation is one cause of deterioration and loss. At a large, state university, disparate departments, ranging from Facilities Management to the Entomology Department and Veterinary Medicine, assisted the university museum in identifying a drywood termite infestation, determining the extent of loss and developing a plan to prevent or mitigate future infestations. Our group was able to determine the extent and severity of a drywood termite infestation in the museum storage vault through visual inspection and X-ray computed tomography (CT). This paper describes the process and heuristics of identifying and estimating the amount of active/inactive termite infestations in the art frames as well as visualizing a 3-dimensional structure to learn the extent of infestation. This interdisciplinary collaboration and effectual use of tomography enabled our group to determine the condition of several art frames through non-invasive means and develop a plan of action to identify and prevent future insect incursions within the museum.

Highlights

Termites are a diverse group of insects best known for the pest status attributed to a small portion of the over 3000 described species [1,2]
This study demonstrates that computed tomography using medical-grade equipment and commercially available computer programs can provide a reliable method of screening works of art made of wood or housed in wood frames for the presence of active insect infestation
The philosophy of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) describes a biology-centric, multidisciplinary, collaborative effort to mitigate depredations caused by pest infestations [17,18]

Summary

Introduction

Termites are a diverse group of insects best known for the pest status attributed to a small portion of the over 3000 described species [1,2]. Visual inspection of the art frames stored in the immediate vicinity resulted in the identification of a few drywood termite fecal pellets on two picture frames (Figure 1c). The upper-most frame was identified as infested through observation of one small (1 mm diameter) ‘knock-out hole’ (Figure 1d). These observations led to discussions with the GMOA staff, College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Entomology Department in a collaborative effort to determine the extent of the termite damage to that frame and the extent of infestation to other items in the vault. The entire collection of framed works on paper housed in this area of the vault is on extended loan to the museum from an individual collector. The museum’s staff, responsible for protecting all works under its stewardship, required information on the scope and potential for spread of the newly discovered infestation to enumerate an appropriate course of action

Methods

Results

Conclusion