Quantitative relationships among vegetation and soil classifications from northeastern Minnesota

A number of classifications of 40 upland forest stands from northeastern Minnesota were carried out and the results were compared. Numerical classifications based on various vegetation properties, on soil properties, and on synthesized environmental gradients of heat, moisture, and nutrients, and non-numerical classifications based on cover type and soil were examined.The vegetation classification based on frequency of all vascular species, excluding those occurring in only one stand, was most closely related to the other vegetation classifications, to the soil classifications, and to the environmental classification. Classifications based on overstory vegetation were poorly related to both those based on soil and on environment. In the study area, overstory composition is relatively insensitive to soils and environment. The numerical classification based on all 22 soil properties which were measured was more closely related to the vegetation classifications than was the non-numerical soil classification based on a few "diagnostic" properties. To find relationships between various classifications of natural systems, it is necessary to use both relevant properties and a correct scale of classification.