Nutrient Cycling in Hampsfell Bracken Grassland Ecosystem,England

The nutrient flow in bracken stands during year showed an inerement of nutrients in standing crop from winter to autumn, reabsorbing the nutrients by plants from soil. In autumn the senescence of live fronds results in a loss of nutrients to standing dead and the nutrients in some below ground standing crop is lost to dead rhizomes. Annual uptakes were estimated to be 17.6 g/m2 potassium, 16.4 g/m2 nitrogen, 12.8 g/m2 calcium, 3.14 g/m2 manganese, 2.47 g/m2 iron, 2.12 g/m2 phosphorus. Compared the annual uptake of elements by bracken with nutrient budget in soil, the efficiency of elements absorbed from soil varied from 0.012 for nitrogen to 1.36 for iron.