The Feasibility of Using Modified Atmospheres to Control Insect Pests in Museums
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English Slovak |
| ISSN: | ISSN 0034-5806 |
| Online Access: | http://www.viks.sk/chk/res_1_96_43_60.doc |
| Abstract: | Summaries. The mortality of all life stages of pexts commonly found in museums was evaluated at 55% relative humidity and 25.5 °C in a nitrogen atmosphere (less than 0.1% oxygen). The insects studied were webbing clothes moths, furniture carpet beetles, firebrats, cabinet beetles, larder beetles, cigarette beetles, confused flour beetles, American cockroach, brownbanded cockroach, German cockroach, powderpost beetles and western drywood termites. The time required for 100% kill ranged from 3 hours for the adult firebrats to 192 hours for the eggs or the cigarette beetles. Conclusions. The use of low-oxygen atmospheres to control insect pests in museums looks extremely promising. It was possible to maintain low-oxygen atmospheres (<0.1%) for at least 8-10 days with only an occasional flushing of pre/puri-fied N2 and several packets of AgelessTM oxygen scavenger. The results showed that the time required to kill. 100% of the insects varied between species and even between the developmental stages of a given species. For most insects tested, exposure of less than 96 hours was required to ensure complete kill. Certain stages such as eggs of cigarette beetles may require up to 8-day exposure to ensure complete kill. Preliminary tests indicated that the addition of CO2 to the nitrogen slightly decreased the exposure time required to kill the insects. It is likely that the exposure time in the low-oxygen atmosphere would be dramatically decreased by increasing the temperature above 25.5°C and lowering the relative humidity below 55%. However, the upper temperature limits and lower relative humidity limits would depend on the nature of the object. The time required to kill the most resistant stages of each insect tested did not substantially increase in phase III testing. The oxygen was quickly displaced and removed by the AgelessTM, killing the insects buried deep in the wood or flour. Consequently, it will probably not be necessary to specially prepare or stack items for treatment. The Getty Conservation Institute and the J. Paul Getty Museum have developed special bags capable of enclosing larger items such as furniture and paintings and still maintaing the low-O2 atmosphere.22-24 Hence the use of low oxygen atmospheres can replace the current use of insecticide sprays and fumigants effectively. |
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| ISSN: | ISSN 0034-5806 |
