AN ALGEBRAIC GRAPHICAL TOOL TO COMPARE ECOSYSTEMS WITH RESPECT TO THEIR POLLUTION BY PB/CD-III - COMPARATIVE REGIONAL-ANALYSIS BY APPLYING A SIMILARITY INDEX/

The technique of Hasse diagrams is applied to compare heavy metal poll ution of regions in Germany. Four matrices, i.e. moss, leaves, earthwo rm (Lumbricus Rubellus) and herbs are investigated. Beside the polluti on pattern of the regions sociogeographic information, i.e. agricultur e, industry, woodland proportion and urban zones are given. With regar d to this additional information a similarity search among the four di fferent matrices with respect to their loading pattern is presented. T he Tanimoto index is applied and it can be shown that low agricultural activity leads to similar Hasse diagrams for the matrices moss-leaves . Therefore a mechanism related to agricultural intensity may be assum ed to exist, which leads to a similar pollution pattern for these two matrices. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.