Comparative Study Plots of the BEF-China experiment were selected according to a gradient of successional age and a crossed gradient of tree diversity. This file describes measures of stem diameter distribution from the CSPs, as well as basal area measures, which can give quantitative insight into the structure of the plots at different successional ages as defined by Mr. Fang. Use the column max_5 for plot age.

CSPs were selected according to a successional age and a diversity gradient. There are 27 CSPs. Within each CSP, trees were sampled in a hierarchical design. Plot size is 30x30m, but the center 10x10m subplot was sampled in higher intensity than the other plots. In the outer plots, trees from 10cm diameter at breastheight were sampled, in the center trees and shrubs from 3cm on. We thus used 9* the data from small trees (<10cm) in the central subplot to reach plot scale. We additionally had to estimate the diameter at breastheight of some small trees which were only measured at the base, this is mentioned in more detaill in the methods. We additionally included the stems affected by the snowbreak to derive the conditions of the plots just before the snowbreak in Winter 2008.

The Gutianshan National Nature Reserve (NNR) is located in the western part of Zhejiang Province (29º8'18" – 29º17'29" N, 118º2'14" – 118º11'12" E, Fig. 1). The Gutianshan NNR has an area of approximately 81 km2 and was initially established as a National Forest Reserve in 1975 and became a National Nature Reserve in 2001. The NNR comprises a large portion of broad-leaved forests of advanced successional stages (Hu & Yu 2008), which have not been managed since the beginning of the 1990ies, as well as young successional stages and conifer plantations, mainly of Cunninghamia lanceolata and Pinus massoniana. --- The vegetation is composed of different types of subtropical evergreen and mixed broad-leaved forests (Yu et al. 2001). Most of the stands are secondary forests, evidenced by maximum tree ages of 180 years, by agricultural terraces in almost all plots and by the presence of charcoal in almost all soil profiles. Around the Gutianshan NRR extensive deforestation has occurred during the Great Leap Forward in the 1950s, as in most parts of Southeast China. However, due to prevailing steep slopes, the Gutianshan area was only marginally usable for agricultural activities, and thus an exceptionally intact forest cover has been preserved. --- The climate at Gutianshan NNR is warm and temperate with a short dry season in November and December and with warm summers (Fig. 2). The climatic conditions are characteristic for the subtropics with an annual average temperature of 15.1°C, January minimum temperatures of -6.8°C, July maximum temperatures of 38.1°C and an accumulated temperature sum (≥ 5°C) of 5221.5 degree days.

data is the dbh data collected in 2008

The data aggregates stem diameters of tree and shrub species in the CSPs.

Use the column max_5 for plot age. This dataset collects numerous parameters that describe the stem diameter distribution of the CSPs. All of them can be used as characteristics of the CSPs.