Pattern recognition of spruce trees. An integrated, analytical approach to forest damage

Old needles from 90-year old Norway spruce trees grown in the Tanus Mountains of West Germany were fingerprinted using in-source pyrolysis-field ionization mass spectrometry. Biometric, physiological variables and elemental compositions of needle and forest soil samples were also collected for these trees. Principal-component and multiple regression analyses were applied to the mass spectral and conventional data sets. The mass signal pattern of antioxidants, the soil acidity, water status, and nutritional supply of the plant contributed most to the variance of damage symptoms observed in the forest stand. The visual needle loss of the canopy can be predicted by antioxidant, soil acidity, and water status parameters.