Nutrienr cyclings in mongolian oak(quercus mongolica) forest

To elucidate nutrient cyclings such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in mongolian oak(quercus mongolica) forest, nutrient elements of precipitation, throughfall, outflow, soil, various plant organ and litter were determined at mt.nambyeongsan, pyeongchang-gun, gangwon province in central part of korean peninsula. Annual precipitation input, throughfall and outflow of nutrientswere 10.3, 8.6 and 4.2 kg/ha for the N, 0.11, 0.24 and 0.02 kg/ha for the Pand 1.3, 10.9 and 1.2 kg/ha for the K, respectively. Inseasonal changes of nutrient concentrations, N, P and Kconcentrations which were rich in young leaves decreased steadily until autumn and decreased abruptly during autumnal yellowing. The standing N, P and K concent were 565, 37 and 257 kg/ha for standing phytomass of overstory, 33, 3 and 18 kg/ha for understory, 132, 3.6 and 14 kg/ha for litter on ground including deadwood and 20, 752, 14 and 420 kg/ha for the soil, respectively. The amounts of annual uptake, reture and retain were 174.2, 57.2, 117.2 kg/ha for the N, 9.9, 3.5, 6.4 kg/ha for the P and 73.2, 30.3, 42.9 kg/ha for the K, respectively. Reabsorption efficiency, ratio of the nutrient amount reabsorbed into woody organs to that in the mature leaves before shedding, was 71%(or 99.8 kg/ha in the amount), 69%(or 5.1 kg/ha) and 57%(or 33.1% kg/ha) and recycling coeffciently made with which the large amount of nutrients is absorbed through roots during growing season(UPTAKE) and reasorbed from the leaves before shedding(RETAIN) but the small amount of nutrients is returned through litterfall(RETURN).