Table 1. Result of Paired samples t-test for quantity of evergreen and deciduous trees between 1996 and 2017, in Tianmu Mountains, eastern China.
Life forms mean se t df p
Evergreen1996 – Evergreen2017 –6.56 1.41 –4.65 24 0.00
Deciduous1996 – Deciduous2017 0.96 0.35 2.75 24 0.01
Table 2. Changes of the evergreen and deciduous species in Tianmu Mountains, eastern China, in 1996 and 2017.
Life forms Stem density (stems ha–1) Basal area
(m2 ha–1) 		IV Recruit trees Dead trees Survival trees Recruitment rate Mortality rate
1996 2017 1996 2017 1996 2017 1996–2017 1996–2017 1996–2017 1996–2017 1996–2017
Evergreen 304 468 19.80 21.99 49.22 56.84 268 104 201 4.0% 1.9%
Deciduous 249 225 18.36 17.70 50.78 43.16 90 114 134 2.5% 2.9%
Total 553 693 38.16 39.69 100 100 358 218 335
Table 3. Diversity indices (Hill Numbers: N0, N1, N2) of the evergreen and deciduous life forms in 1996 and 2017.
Life forms N0 N1 N2
1996 2017 1996 2017 1996 2017
Evergreen 9 9 8.67 10.59 1.47 1.32
Deciduous 31 40 43.38 58.52 1.16 1.14
Table 4. Height structure of tree layer in Tianmu Mountains, eastern China, in 1996 and 2017.
Layer Life forms Species Trees Net gains Mortality
1996 2017 1996 2017 1996–2017 1996–2017
A Evergreen 4 4 22 26 4 1
Deciduous 9 11 66 65 –1 15
B Evergreen 8 8 76 144 68 24
Deciduous 22 30 144 93 51 59
C Evergreen 7 8 206 298 92 79
Deciduous 24 26 69 67 –2 40
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Fig. 1. Size distribution of the evergreen and deciduous trees. in Tianmu Mountains, eastern China, in 1996 and 2017.

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Fig. 2. Size distribution of recruits and dead trees for each life form in Tianmu Mountains, eastern China, in 1996 and 2017.

Table 5. Floristic changes of the top ten tree species ranked by importance values, in Tianmu Mountains, eastern China, in 1996 and 2017.
Species name IV Stem density
(stems ha–1) 		Mortality rate
1996–2017 		Recruitment rate
1996–2017 		Life forms
1996 2017 1996 2017
1 Daphniphyllum macropodum 3.18 14.65 15 177 5.2% 16.9% Evergreen
2 Cyclobalanopsis myrsinifolia (Blume) Oerst. 17.37 10.86 153 118 2.1% 0.8% Deciduous
3 Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook. 8.98 10.08 64 64 0.6% 0.6% Evergreen
4 Cyclocarya paliurus 13.4 9.69 80 56 3.3% 1.6% Deciduous
5 Liquidambar acalycina H.T. Chang 7.66 7.85 31 33 0.0% 0.3% Deciduous
6 Lithocarpus brevicaudatus 3.07 6.41 22 52 2.5% 6.6% Evergreen
7 Cryptomeria fortunei 8.98 6.36 10 9 1.1% 0.6% Evergreen
8 Litsea auriculata S.S. Chien & W.C. Cheng 3.53 3.64 15 15 0.7% 0.7% Deciduous
9 Dendrobenthamia japonica var. chinensis (Osborn) W.P.Fang 2.66 3.18 16 25 2.7% 4.9% Deciduous
10 Eurya hebeclados Ling 3.33 3.09 26 28 5.6% 5.9% Evergreen
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Fig. 3. Changes in annual temperature (MAT), annual precipitation (MAP), annual hottest month average temperature (Tmax) and coldest month average temperature (Tmin) of 60 years in Tianmu Mountains, eastern China. View larger in new window/tab.