Abstract
The variability of wood as a natural material is attributed mostly to variations in its anatomical structure. Stereological techniques provide a quick, easy and accurate method for quantitative analysis of wood microstructure. This type of quantitative analysis facilitates the establishment of relationships between anatomical properties and other wood properties. Five locally grown wood species were anatomically characterized using stereological techniques and their shrinkage rates determined, with the aim of establishing relationships between shrinkage as the dependant variable and the anatomical properties as the independant variables. The results revealed significant differences in most properties between species, as well as correlations between many of these properties. The obtained mathematical models relating shrinkage to anatomical properties indicated that the most important anatomical properties affecting shrinkage were: vessel diameter, diameter of parenchyma cells, lumen fraction and diameter of fiber lumen.