NIEPOOMICE FOREST—A GIS ANALYSIS OF ECOSYSTEM RESPONSE TO INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION January Weiner, a * Stefan Fredro-Boniecki, a David Reed, b Ann Maclean b and Michael Strong b a Department of Ecosystem Studies, Institute of Environmental Biology, Jagiellonian University, ul. Ingardena 6, 30-060 Krako´w, Poland b School of Forestry and Wood Products, Michigan Technical University, Houghton, MI 49931, USA Abstract The Niepo omice Forest is located near the city of Kra- ko´w (Southern Poland). Since the erection of large iron works in the 1950’s, the forest has suered from heavy pollution with SO 2 and industrial dusts containing heavy metals. During the last 10 years this impact was sig- nificantly reduced. In the same period the Niepo omice Forest ecology has been intensively studied. With the advent of modern, computer intensive techniques, data gathered in the past are being reanalysed with respect to the spatial and temporal variation of the forest ecosystem response to the industrial pollution. To that end, the eects of natural conditions (soil, vegetation) and of industrial pollution (heavy metals, sulphur dioxide) upon the pine stands (tree volume increment, crown injuries) in the Niepo omice Forest were studied using a geographic information system. Procedures of statistical analysis involving bootstrapping were developed. Results suggest fertilization of forest stands due to industrial pollution, an eect not revealed in former studies. # 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved INTRODUCTION The Niepoomice Forest, an ancient forest complex situated close to the urban and industrial area of Kra- ko´ w (Southern Poland), may be regarded as an object of a large- scale ecological experiment. In the 1950’s, the forest was suddenly exposed to enormous industrial pollution which increased steadily until the end of 1980’s, and then decreased (Fig. 1). The pollution was due to the extensive development of metallurgic indus- try and the subsequent production limitation and tech- nological improvements—a pattern clearly reflecting the political changes in the country. This situation provides a unique opportunity to study the response of forest ecosystems to severe pollution impacts. The Niepoomice Forest is a forest complex (approximately 110 km 2 ), including a variety of soils and vegetation types. For many years the forest ecosys- tems of Niepoomice were the subjects of research for many scientific institutions in Krako´w. This activity resulted in hundreds of publications (Banasik, 1978), including two synthesising volumes (Kleczkowski, 1981; Grodzin´ski et al., 1984). However, the vast body of data could not be fully exploited. With the advent of e- cient computer-intensive methods such as geographic information systems (GIS), a more advanced analysis of the spatial and temporal variation can be under- taken, and an explanation of the emerging patterns can be attempted. The aim of this study is to reanalyse the available data on Niepoomice Forest ecosystems using GIS to reveal possible spatial correlations between environ- mental conditions, pollution levels, and the indices of tree stand quality. The data have not been collected expressly for the purpose of such analysis and therefore a number of methodological problems must be solved. MATERIALS AND METHODS As a basis for the GIS database, published topographic and thematic maps of Niepoomice Forest areas were used: (1) 1:25 000 topographic map; (2) 1:20 000 forestry compartment map; (3) 1:37 500 potential vegetation map (Gruszczyk, 1981); (4) 1:37 500 present vegetation community (C ´ wikowa and Lesin´ ski, 1981); (5) 1:37500 forest soils map (Gruszczyk, 1981a); (6) 1:37 500 site type map (Gruszczyk, 1981b); (7) 1:37 500 overstory stand type map (Ma,czyn´ ski, 1981). The GIS (ARC Info) data base was originally developed at Michigan Technological University. After scanning and editing the maps were registered to UTM co–ordinates using numerous GPS readings made in the field (see Weiner et al. 1995 for a detailed description of the GIS develop- ment). The database was converted to IDRISI 4.0 for- mat (Eastman, 1992) and the subsequent data input and analysis was performed at the Jagiellonian University in Krako´w using the latter system. The basic information on the Niepoomice Forest is contained in the GIS layers such as soils (Fig. 2) or forest stands (Fig. 3) which are the electronic representations of the maps published before. New maps were produced based on published quantitative Environmental Pollution, Vol. 98, No. 3, pp. 381–388, 1997 # 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain PII:S0269-7491(97)00152-8 0269-7491/97 $17.00+0.00 381 *To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wei- ner@eko.uj.edu.pl