1. Biodiversity is considered to mitigate detrimental impacts of climate change on the functioning of forest ecosystems, such as drought-induced decline in forest productivity. However, previous studies produced controversial results and experimen...

d13C and d18O isotopes were measured from the leaves of shrubs in TSQs. The leaves were collected, dried, milled into a powder, weighed and sent for stable isotope analyses in Jena (Max Planck Institute, Germany).

Hemispherical photos were taken from above the shrubs found in the TSQS in the BEF-China experiment. These were used to calculated the amount of light that penetrates through the tree canopy, to the understory shrubs. This openness was calculated,...

Microclimate (temperature and relative humidity) and biotic factors (decomposer colonization and tree species diversity) drive wood decomposition. However, their inter-correlations make it necessary to decouple direct and indirect effects. Further...

The DBH of the trees of each TSQ were measured; these were converted to basal areas and the basal areas of all the trees within a TSQ were added, for a total tree basal area measurement for each TSQ. This serves as a measure of competition for the...

This is the 2008 CSP PLFA data from a subset of 12 CSPs representing the age gradient. Samples were analyzed over the depth profile of each CSP (see detailed methods below) and analyzed for phospholipid fatty acid profiles, which represent both th...