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...

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...

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...

We used shared herbivore species (zeta diversity) and multi-site generalized dissimilarity modelling to investigate the patterns and determinants of species turnover of Lepidoptera herbivores among study plots across a gradient in tree species ric...