While coexistence in plant communities is frequently explained by effects of resource niche partitioning, the Janzen-Connell (J-C) hypothesis is an alternative approach that has been assumed as a major ecological mechanism explaining high species ...

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...

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...