198 
TABLE 3 
Landsat MSS Bands and Transformations Used in Statistical Analysis 
Band 4 (B4) Landsat MSS Bands 
Band 5 (B5) 
Band 6 (B6) 
Band 7 (B7) 
Band 6 
Band 7 
Band 5 (BD6) Band Difference 
Band 5 (BD7) 
Band 6/Band 5 
Band 7/Band 5 
(R65) Simple Band Ratio 
(R75) 
(Band 6 - Band 5)/(Band 6 + Band 5) (ND6) 
(Band 7 - Band 5)/(Band 7 + Band 5) (ND7) 
Normalised Difference 
1 
(ND6 +0.5)/ABS(ND6 
(ND7 + 0.5)/ABS(ND7 
0.5) X (ABS(ND6 + 
0.5) X (ABS(ND7 + 
. 5) ) (TVI6) 
.5)) ' (TVI7) 
Transformed ^ 
Vegetation Index 
(1.091 B6 - B5 - 5.49) / (1 .091- + 
(2.400 B7 - B5 - 0.0l)/(2.400 + 1 ) ' 
(PVI6) Perpendicular Vegetation 
(PVI7) Index 3 
4 
2.4 B7 - B5 (DVI) Difference Vegetation Index 
0.332 B4 + 0.603 B5 + 0.675 B6 + 0.262 B7 (SBI) Soil Brightness Index 5 - 
-0.283 B4 - 0.660 B5 + 0.577 B6 + 0.388 B7 (GVI) Green Vegetative Index 
First Principal Component (PC1) For each Landsat MSS scene date 
Second Principal Component (PC2) 
Transformation Sources: 
1. Rouse et al. (1973) 
2. Perry and Lautenschlager (1984) 
Deering et al. (1975) 
3. Perry and Lautenschlager (1984) 
Richardson and Wiegand (1977) 
4. Richardson and Wiegand (1977) 
5. Kauth and Thomas (1976) 
modified after 
modified after 
strongest with respect to zinc needle con 
tent and weakest with respect to copper nee 
dle content. Only the September 1976 scene 
produced correlation values greater than 
r=-0.65, and then only for MSS bands 5 
(r=-0.78) and 6 (r=-0.69) and the soil 
brightness index (SBI) (r=-0.70). These values 
are significant at greater than the 98 per 
cent probability level. 
Although no dominant bands or transfor 
mations emerged from the statistical analy 
sis of the spruce needle data set that show 
an overall capability to discriminate dif 
ferent levels of metal concentrations in the 
needles, the first principal component (PC1), 
band differences BD1, BD2, and BD3, TM band 
4, and the brightness (TMB) and greenness 
(TMG) indices did rank the highest of all 
the TM bands and transformations tested, 
whereas the soil brightness index (SBI), the 
first principal component (PC1), and bands 
5, 6, and 7 have the highest ranking of all 
the MSS bands and transformations employed 
in the analysis. 
10. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 
Two facts stand out from this study: 
the amount of copper, lead, and zinc in the 
spruce needles differs markedly from their 
soil content (especially for copper and 
lead), and, except for zinc, the soil and 
needle metal contents show essentially no 
correlation with each other. The level of 
metal availability in the soil substrate 
and the regulatory mechanisms operating 
within the spruce trees probably account for 
these observations. The chemical analysis of 
the soil samples from the test site involved 
the determination of their total copper, 
lead, and zinc content, which is usually 
much greater than the amount of metals pre 
sent in the soil solution. It is the latter 
metals that are available to the plant for 
uptake by its root system. 
The literature contains numerous refer 
ences to plants growing in soils containing 
high concentrations of copper, lead, and 
zinc, but exhibiting low levels of these 
metals in their foliage, except for zinc 
(e.g., Holmes, 1964; Nicolls et al., 1965; 
Bolviken et al., 1977). The good correlation 
found between soil and needle zinc content 
and the lack of one between soil and needle 
lead and copper are in agreement with the 
published data on metal uptake into the 
aerial parts of plants. This supports the 
thesis that zinc is taken up by the spruce 
trees in a more or less unrestricted manner 
and subsequently controlled within the tree 
system by internal regulatory mechanisms, 
whereas the absorption of lead and copper is 
controlled by exclusion mechanisms operating 
at the soil-root interface. Lead and copper 
absorbed by the plant are, for the most part, 
deposited within the plant's root system. As 
the roots are the medium by which the trees 
derive their nutrients and water from the 
soil substrate, the detrimental effects that 
these highly toxic metals have on a tree's 
vascular system can be as serious, if not 
more so, than any effects these metals may 
have at the active sites of metabolism in 
the aerial parts of the tree. 
The strong capability of many of the 
Landsat MSS and TM spectral bands and trans-