ABSTRACT
Nutrients are elements or compounds that are essential for the growth and survival of plants. Plants require large amounts of nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg), but only small amounts of others such as boron (B), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and chlorine (Cl) (micronutrients). Forest nutrient cycling is defi ned as the exchange of elements between the living and nonliving components of an ecosystem.[1] The processes of the forest nutrient cycle include: nutrient uptake and storage in vegetation perennial tissues, litter production, litter decomposition, nutrient transformations by soil fauna and fl ora, nutrient inputs from the atmosphere and the weathering of primary minerals, and nutrient export from the soil by leaching and gaseous transfers.
