Study site
The study site was located in south-east China near the city Xingangshan, Jiangxi province (29.12°N, 117.90°E) and is part of the BEF-China experiment (Bruelheide et al. 2014). The experiment was planted in 2009, after a clear-cut of the previous commercial plantation of Pinus massoniana and Cunninghamia lanceolata , and it covers an area of 26.7 ha, ranging in altitude from 105 to 275 m. The region has a subtropical climate, with warm, humid summers and cool, dry winters. The local mean annual temperature is 16.7°C with an annual precipitation of 1,821 mm (Yang et al. 2013). The soils of this region are Cambisols and Cambisol derivatives, with Regosols on ridges and crests (Geißler et al. 2012; Scholten et al. 2017). The natural vegetation is characterised by species-rich, broad-leaved, subtropical forests dominated by evergreen and deciduous species such asCastanopsis eyrei , Cyclobalanopsis glauca ,Daphniphyllum oldhamii , and Lithocarpus glaber (Bruelheide et al. 2014; 2011).