PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Monica L. Elliott
AU  - Timothy K. Broschat
AU  - Lothar Göcke
TI  - Preliminary Evaluation of Electrical Resistance Tomography for Imaging Palm Trunks
AID  - 10.48044/jauf.2016.010
DP  - 2016 Mar 01
TA  - Arboriculture & Urban Forestry (AUF)
PG  - 111--119
VI  - 42
IP  - 2
4099  - http://auf.isa-arbor.com/content/42/2/111.short
4100  - http://auf.isa-arbor.com/content/42/2/111.full
AB  - In a preliminary study, electrical resistance tomography (ERT) was used to obtain trunk images of Syagrus romanzoffiana, a common ornamental palm grown in southern Florida, U.S. Seven palms, four healthy and three diseased, were evaluated in the middle of the dry season, with four located in an irrigated site and three in a non-irrigated site. Two healthy and three diseased palms were felled and cross sections obtained to examine their internal structure and compare to the tomograms obtained. ERT was effective in illustrating the relative electrical resistance value of healthy palms, as the tomograms obtained for palms situated in the irrigated site (low electrical resistivity) were distinctly different from the tomograms of palms situated in the non-irrigated site (high electrical resistivity). ERT was also effective in visualizing internal palm trunk areas affected by the fungal pathogens Ganoderma zonatum, a wood decay pathogen, and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. palmarum, a vascular wilt pathogen, as these areas had a low electrical resistivity.