Growth rates are of fundamental importance for plants, as individual size affects myriad ecological processes. We determined the factors that generate variation in RGR among 14 species of trees and shrubs that are abundant in subtropical Chinese forests. We grew seedlings for two years at four light levels in a shade-house experiment. We monitored the growth of every juvenile plant every two weeks. After one and two years, we destructively harvested individuals and measured their functional traits and gas-exchange rates. After calculating individual biomass trajectories, we estimated relative growth rates using nonlin- ear growth functions. We decomposed the variance in log(RGR) to evaluate the relation- ships of RGR with its components: specific leaf area (SLA), net assimilation rate (NAR) and leaf mass ratio (LMR). We found that variation in NAR was the primary determinant of varia- tion in RGR at all light levels, whereas SLA and LMR made smaller contributions. Further- more, NAR was strongly and positively associated with area-based photosynthetic rate and leaf nitrogen content. Photosynthetic rate and leaf nitrogen concentration can, therefore, be good predictors of growth in woody species. 2019-10-09 08:31:12 UTC prep SP01e Aboveground primary productivity in forest ecosystems as a function of species diversity and composition Xuefei Li xuefei.z.li@helsinki.fi Bernhard Schmid, Prof. bernhard.schmid@ieu.uzh.ch Xuefei Li xuefei.z.li@helsinki.fi main false Bernhard Schmid, Prof. bernhard.schmid@ieu.uzh.ch Xuefei Li xuefei.z.li@helsinki.fi https://data.bef-china.de/bef-china/datasets/375/download https://data.bef-china.de/bef-china/datasets/375/download.csv?separate_category_columns=true PLosOne http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5kb61 2016-02-17 accepted