Figure 2

Recycling dead organic matter
essential for life of new trees;
providing food and shelter for wildlife
and many other microorganisms;
decreasing the potential for fire.(fig.2)

Figure 3

Or Destructive...

Reducing the strength and value of
trees and wood products;decreasing
the attractiveness of trees.(fig.3)

Decay Is a Natural Recycling Process...

Cell walls are digested;strength of wood is reduced.(fig 4)Decayed wood is the RESULT of the process.(fig.5)Tree decay involves interactions among trees,which are the tallest, greatest in mass and longest-lived organisms ever to inhabit the earth, and microorganisms-(fig.6)primarily bacteria and fungi-which are some of the smallest organisms on earth.
Figure 4
Figure 5	Figure 6

To Understand the Decay Process it is Necessary to Understand Size Relationships.

Figure 7

For example,if a large wood-inhabiting bacterium-almost 3 microns long-were enlarged to the size of a 6-foot man.(fig.7)the man enlarged proportionately would be over 700 miles tall!(fig.8)

And a giant redwood enlarged to the same proportions would be over 40,000 miles tall,(fig 9) five times the diameter of the earth! We must keep these size relationships in mind when we consider ways to deal with the wood-inhibiting microorganisms.