Abstract
SUMMARY Monthly samples of leaf litter from three contrasted forests have been analysed for nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and aluminium. The mineral composition of the litter is remarkably constant throughout the year, despite the markedly seasonal litter-fall. In an unusually dry year the litter-fall was greater and the mineral content somewhat higher, though the discrepancy was only serious in the case of phosphorus. The mineral return of a complex forest on basalt was almost identical with that of a forest of similar structure in Ghana, suggesting that convergence of structure and life forms is related to edaphic factors as well as to climate. Leaf-fall in a subtropical vine forest was suppressed during an abnormally dry season, possibly expressing an adaptation towards evergreenness similar to that of sclerophyll types which characterize areas of erratic rainfall in Australia.
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