TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE RELATIONS BETWEEN TREE NUTRITION, NUTRIENT CYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT

The paper contains a discussion of the interrelations between the scie nces used by managers of forest land to improve their management, in p articular with respect to the plant nutrient economy of the forest eco systems. Both site studies and studies of nutrient cycling have been c arried out for long periods without proper consideration of tree nutri tion. Therefore these studies contributed less to the understanding of the role of nutrients as regulators of processes in ecosystems than m ight have been expected. This situation has improved, especially withi n the last decade. In addition the necessity to manage forest land for environmental values as well as for forest yield requires new interdi sciplinary approaches in the study of the roles of plant nutrients in the forest. Even more branches of biological and environmental science s than those just mentioned must be involved.