CLUSTER-ANALYSIS FOR CHARACTERIZATION OF CONIFEROUS NUTRITION-TYPES AND OF CHEMICAL STATE-OF-SOIL-TYPES - RESULTS OF THE FOREST SOIL INVENTORY IN BAVARIA

The evaluation of the nutrient and soil data on 424 sample plots of th e forest soil inventory shows the wide range of forest sites in Bavari a. The nutrition of spruce and pine stands and the chemical state of t he soils (NH4Cl-Extraction) are grouped in homogeneous units by differ ent procedures of cluster analysis. The spruce stands are clustered in 3 types of nutrition. The 1. type has high Mg and Ca but low N and P element contents. The 2. type shows low Mg and Ca but high N, P and K contents in the needles. The 3. type has average element contents and, for the most part, a sufficient nutrition. The nutrition types of pin e are not so distinct. The contents of Mg has the most influence on th e clustering. The NH4Cl-exchangeable cations in the soils are also div ided in 3 classes. The very acid forest sites of the North and East Ba varian mountains and the Spessart are most frequent. The less acid for est sites, which can be found all over Bavaria, have the 2. number of sample plots. The group of the calcerous sites has the lowest frequenc y. The connection of the needle and soil cluster shows of a high corre spondence. It is sure to assume that the chemical state of forest soil s has the greatest influence on the nutrition of the forest stands.