Detection of wood decay and cavities in living trees: A review

It has been established that wood decay and cavities in tree stems contribute significantly to tree failures. Several techniques have been reported by researchers for detecting wood decay and cavities in living trees. These techniques are reviewed in this study under two broad categories: invasive and non-invasive methods. The invasive methods include traditional (decay detecting drill, increment borer, and boroscope), radiographic, acoustic, and electrical resistivity techniques. The non-invasive methods comprise microwave scanning, magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray tomography, and traditional techniques involving the use of mallets. Two or more methods are usually combined to investigate the health status of a tree for comparison and validation of results. The prospects and challenges of the various techniques in diagnosing wood decay, cavities, and other structural defects in living trees are reported. This review aims to help researchers in this field identify areas of further work towards the efficient monitoring and management of forest and urban trees.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author