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).