We have studied nutrient related variables such as reallocation, nutrient use efficiency ( nue) and fine litter fall for three years in an oak forest Quercus humboldtii Bonpl. and also in some other forest plantations like pine, Pinus patula, and cypress, Cupressus lusitanica, in Antioquia, Colombia. Leaf litter quantities returned to the soil followed a falling sequence: oak (5313.3 kg ha -1 year -1 ) > pine (4866.5 kg ha -1 year -1 ) > cypress (2460.3 kg ha -1 year -1 ). The coniferous species showed the highest nue for the majority of elements that were examined, except for P, which reached its absolute maximum in the oak forest –where a clear reallocation of this nutrient was also recorded–, probably because of its reduced availability in these volcanic