Nutrient availability is a key factor affecting forest plantation growth and forest sustainability. The biological processes of nutrient cycling (including plant uptake, internal cycling of nutrients, litter fall, litter decomposition, and microbial transformations of C, N, and P) help to retain added nutrients and minimize losses due to leaching and erosion. A sound understanding of nutrient cycling in different types of forest types is helpful for forest management, vegetation restoration, and reconstruction and understanding of forest succession. In the present study, three forest types (plantation forest, secondary forest, and primary forest) in depressions between karst hills in southwest China were selected. Along the gradient from plantation forest to secondary forest to primary forest, human disturbance tended to decrease. The biomass and contents of nutrient elements in different forest compartments were investigated to study the nutrient element cycling in these forests. Forest biomass was investigated using the standard-timber and harvesting methods. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg) in the tree layer, grass layer, shrub layer, and lichen were measured. For the tree layer, the nutrient elements in leaves, boles, branches, and roots were separately measured. Nutrient contents for various organs in the three forest types were in the order leaves > branches > roots > bole. Nutrient contents in the understory layer and litter layer were higher than those in the arbor layer, except for tree leaves. The contents of K and Ca were highest among the five elements, followed by N, while Mg and P were the lowest in various components. The total nutrient contents were 4540.30, 2107.09, and 719.51 kg/hm² in, respectively, primary forest, secondary forest, and plantation forest, which accounted for 88.30%, 79.57%, and 62.60% of total amounts, respectively. The arbor layer's nutrient contents accounted for most of the total. Among the five elements, the K content and annual accumulation rate in the arbor layer of the plantation forest were greatest, while the Ca content and annual accumulation rate in the arbor layer of the secondary forest and primary forest were greatest. Both annual absorption and annual returns of the five nutrient elements in the three forests changed in the order secondary forest > primary forest > plantation forest. The annual absorption rates were 418.80, 271.17, and 148.79 kg hm^-2 a^-1 for, respectively, secondary forest, primary forest, and plantation forest. The annual return rates were 182.98, 111.43, and 43.37 kg hm^-2 a^-1 for, respectively, secondary forest, primary forest, and plantation forest. The nutrient utilization coefficients in the three forests changed in the order plantation forest > secondary forest > primary forest, while the order was the reverse for the cycling coefficients. The recycling periods changed in the order primary forest > plantation forest > secondary forest. The present study revealed that nutrient cycling was relatively slow in forests of the karst areas. Since the three types of forests covered a gradient of disturbance, our study showed that nutrient contents sharply decreased with disturbance. Therefore, it is crucial to reduce disturbance in order to sustain nutrient elements and facilitate karst vegetation restoration.