I just happened to read the article by Bob Koestler (A new approach on conservation of wooden heritage), that includes the cited information that lead to the recent discussion of nitrogen versus argon.
In his paper he says: "Nitrogen has been used for insect control in food storage silos for decades. A superficial understanding of its use there can lead one to conclude that it will be useful in the art field, but there are some potential drawbacks that restrict its utility for art. For one thing, nitrogen is not really inert. Although at normal room conditions it is not believed to be reactive, nitrogen gas is an essential requirement for some anaerobic microbesmicrobes that can survive when oxygen levels are low and when humidity levels in the material is conducive to their growth." Hence, he claims that at roomtemperature nitrogen is believed to be inert. And second, he does not claim that nitrogen promotes microbial action, however, some anaerobic microbes may not be killed by the treatment as they can utilize the nitrogen for alternative respiration. These organisms must however, be facultatively anaerobic (strickt anaerobes would have been killed in a normal museum environment with the presence of oxygen), meaning that they were active in the oxygen environment before the anoxia treatment and could not be killed by the treatment, just as most microorganisms, as many of them can survive in very low oxygen levels. I do not read any promotion of microbic growth into his words. Liebe Grüße, Stefanie Scheerer _____________________________________________________________________ Dr. Stefanie Scheerer Mikrobiologie & Restaurierung www.biophil-art.com tel. 0711-91275899 ________________________________ From: Stefanie Scheerer <stefschee...@yahoo.de> To: pestlist@museumpests.net Sent: Wed, October 13, 2010 11:18:43 PM Subject: Re: [pestlist] Fwd: Fumigating cabinets - bug infestation I know of one italian study by Flavia Pinzari that investigated the effect of low oxgen environmentes (they used nitrogen, I do not believe that argon was tested at all) on fungi. There was indeed one Aspergillus species that produced more spores after the anoxia treatment than its untreated counterpart. This reaction was possibly independant of the kind of gas used. However, it was most likely a so-called SOS-response. Some microorganisms are capable of reacting to adverse conditions in a way that may save the organism from dying. This might be a wide variety of different responses, one of them is increased sporulation. This is a very logic behavior, as the spores may be transported far away where the environmental conditions might be more favorable. However, this does not mean that all fungi have that behaviour, in fact the increased sporulation of is more likely to be an exception than the rule. Also, the experiment was performed on nutrient agar plates,which means that these are ideal growth conditions for fungi with sufficient nutrients and humidity. I doubt, that the fungus would respond in the same manner if the environment was dry, meaning that the activity of the fungus would be significantly decreased. However, I do agree that more research on this topic is needed! Cheers, Stefanie Scheerer _____________________________________________________________________ Dr. Stefanie Scheerer Mikrobiologie & Restaurierung www.biophil-art.com tel. 0711-91275899 ________________________________ From: Rui Marto Fonseca - EXPM Lda. <rfons...@expm.com.pt> To: pestlist@museumpests.net Sent: Wed, October 13, 2010 4:57:32 PM Subject: Re: [pestlist] Fwd: Fumigating cabinets - bug infestation Dear pestlist friends, From our experience, when it comes to funghi anoxia doesn't interfere with them (at least at a point that could be considered a treatment). For this kind of problems mixing insects and funghi, we use anoxia and for selected critical items with fungus we find freezing and unfreezing cicles very effective in funghi killing (both outside and inside the books). -- Rui Marto Fonseca Gestor Produto / Product Manager Tlm: 00351 917885010 EXPM, Desinfestacao e Higienizacao, Lda Equipamentos e Servicos para Preservacao e Conservacao de Acervos / Equipment & Services for the Preservation and Maintenance of Collections ESCRITORIO / OFFICE: Rua dos Ciprestes, 48 - Edificio Office no Estoril - 2765-623 Estoril Tel: 00351 214661910 / Fax: 00351 214661523 / Email: rfons...@expm.com.pt SEDE / HEADQUARTER: R. Prof. Dias Valente, n.32 - Edificio Copacabana, 4B - 2765-578 Estoril ARMAZEM / STOREHOUSE: R. Fonte da Carreira, 350 - Armazem 10 A - Mata Sete - Manique de Baixo - 2645-467 Alcabideche Tel: 00351 210936238
