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,...

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).

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...

Hemispherical photos were taken from above and below 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, and then through th...

Rain was captured in open field and in vegetated conditions parallel to measurements in the Comparative study plots (CSPs). Throughfall as well as sandloss from splashcups can be used to derive kinetic energy from raindrops.